Milestones of a Success Story

Professional culture sponsoring and marketing since 2003 – reap the benefits of working with an agency that has built a consistently proven track record over the past thirteen years!

Causales – Gesellschaft für Kultursponsoring und Kulturmarketing mbH, was founded in Berlin in 2003 by Hans-Conrad Walter and Eva Nieuweboer. With a strong term boasting strong qualifications, the company established itself as a successful partner for sponsoring and brand building on the German and pan-European culture market. To draw more attention to the culture market and its players so that the heroes of the culture scene will receive the recognition for the work they deserve, we have developed unique products that boost the stimulation of the culture market. Since 2004, we have been publishing our Yearbook for culture marketing and sponsoring annually and provided the online portal. Moreover, we inaugurated the “Cultural Brand of the Year Award” contest in 2006, which has since become a pan-European contest in ten categories under the title Cultural Brands. Hence we have created an unrivaled platform for the culture market right here in Berlin.

Agency History Milestones 2003-2019

2003	With the assistance of Eva Nieuweboer yet without any start-up capital, Hans-Conrad Walter establishes the Causales agency as a sole proprietorship. Initially, the fledgling business services two clients. The company is domiciled in Berlin Köpenick.
2004	Eva Nieuweboer is hired in the position of project manager and assumes customer service and operational responsibilities. Hans-Conrad Walter accepts a stint as a docent; the terms “culture brand”, “cultural brands” and “Causales” are trademarked with the DPMA. Causales assumes the legal status of “Company Based German Civil Law” under the name “Causales – Agentur für Marketing und Kommunikation”.
	The Causales agency launches the cultural brands initiative, publishes its first Cultural Brands Yearbook (38 pages) as well as its website www.CulturalBrands.de. By now, Causales boasts five clients and employs one staff members as well as interns.
2005	Eva Nieuweboer opts for self-employment and becomes a partner of the Causales agency. She accepts the role of managing director focusing on customer service, operations and human resources.
2006	The company moves to its new domicile located in the Bötzowstraße in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district; the grand opening party is attended by 150 guests – all customers.
	Causales and its sponsoring partners successfully roll out the Culture Brand of the Year Contest and media effectively bestow the awards on the winners.
2007	As a sponsoring expert, Hans-Conrad Walter is asked to attend a session of the German parliament (Bundestag) by the Enquete Commission “Culture in Germany;” the agency participates in the International Tourism Fair ITB as a panelist on the topic of “Cultural Brands as Investment Market” Causales becomes a partner of the ESB – Europäische Sponsoringbörse (European Sponsoring Platform).
	Causales hosts the contest for the Culture Brand of the Year featuring a panel of expert judges and sponsors, an awards ceremony at the KulturBrauerei (brewery) in Berlin for 250 invited guests representing businesses, cultural organizations and the media.
2008	KulturSPIEGEL becomes a Causales agency partner. The companies jointly host the contest for the Culture Brand, Trend Brand and Culture Manager of the Year in the German-speaking regions and draw 96 applicants.
	A total of 750 guests are expected to attend the Cultural Brands Award and the awards ceremony for the Culture Brand, Trend Brand and Culture Manager of the Year. The venue is once again the KulturBrauerei. The KulturSPIEGEL assumes the role of presenting partner. This is the first time the event boasts the characteristics of a gala. The Causales agency is celebrating its five-year anniversary and can look back on the successful brokerage of 75 sponsoring partnerships generating a total sales volume in the 7-digit range.
2009	The Causales agency becomes a FASPO - Fachverband für Sponsoring und Sonderwerbeformen e.V. member and Hans-Conrad Walter is elected to the board as the liaison for culture and public sponsoring.
	Causales brings new sponsors for the Cultural Brands Awards on board: Deutsche Post DHL and the ZEIT-Verlag (publisher). Since 2006, this is the fourth time in a row the agency is hosting the contest for the Culture Brand, Trend Brand and Culture Manager of the Year. In partnership with the Europäische Sponsoring-Börse ESB, the company develops a new product – the CultureInvest Congress.
2009	A total of 85 projects from the German-speaking region participate in the Cultural Brands Awards. The award ceremony on October 29 in Berlin’s Admirals’ Palace is attended by 1,500 top decision makes representing commerce, culture, politics and the media. CultureInvest Congress, which the agency co-hosts with ESB, establishes itself as the largest industry convention for culture marketing and sponsoring and is a huge success drawing more than 300 participants.
2010	The Causales agency changes its name to “Causales – Gesellschaft für Kulturmarketing und Kultursponsoring mbH.” The company is now represented by its managing partners Hans-Conrad Walter and Eva Nieuweboer.
2011	This year, 107 applicants from all over the German-speaking region participate in the sixth Cultural Brands Award contest. More than 500 corporate, culture, politics and media decision-makers now attend the festive awards ceremony – the Cultural Brands Gala -. The event takes place on October 27 at the “TIPI am Kanzleramt.” The CultureInvest-Congress, once again co-hosted with ESB generates a new visitor record of 400 participants and has thus established itself as the industry convention for culture marketing, sponsoring and investment in the German-speaking region.
	The Causales agency celebrates its 8th anniversary and more positive news: Over the first eight years of its existence, the agency has successfully brokered more than 120 culture sponsoring partnerships generating seven-digit sales volumes.
2012	The seventh Cultural Brands Award draws 104 applications from all over the German-speaking region in 2012. The festive awards celebration at the “TIPI am Kanzleramt” is sold out and hosts 600 guests.
2013	The Culture Sponsoring Planner makes its debut along with the anniversary issue of the Yearbook Cultural Brands. The new planning tool offers corporations an at-a-glance overview of available sponsoring opportunities from select culture providers in the German-speaking region and also includes geographic mapping, visitor target groups, infrastructure factors, reach information, innovative B2B hospitality services as well as regional and domestic B2C communications services along with the contact information of the respective marketers.
2013	The Fifth CultureInvest-Congress is hosted in the Publishing House of the Tagesspiegel on October 24 and 25. More than 460 participants and speakers have registered for the largest industry convention of culture providers and culture investors. In the evening between the two congress days,, 575 guests from all over the German-speaking region honored the award winners of the Cultural Brands Awards at the sold out “TIPI am Kanzleramt”.
2014	Under the motto “causales@europe” the agency does not only produce its Yearbook Cultural Brands, but also premieres a European sponsoring publication that introduces 33 culture providers from 21 European nations along with their sponsoring offers. Boasting 148 speakers and a total of 513 participants as well as a guest country partnership with France, the CultureInvest Congress is promoted as the largest industry convention for culture providers and culture investors in Europe. Thanks to its strong partners, Causales is able to promote the Cultural Brands Award in all of Europe for the first time and receives 99 applications, of which 30% hail from other European countries. This time the venue for the ceremony is the State Opera at Berlin’s Schiller Theater.
2015	Under the motto "causales@digital," Causales successfully relaunches the online portal www.Cultural Brands.de as THE industry portal for culture marketing and culture sponsoring. Eva Nieuweboer resigns from her managing director’s position for personal reasons, but remains a partner of the agency. Since January 1, 2015, Hans-Conrad Walter has been at the helm of the agency in the role of managing partner. A new partners joins the LLC. The CultureInvest-Congress is hosted under the motto “Perspectives of Culture Funding”. The awards ceremony for the Cultural Brands Awards returns to the “TIPI am Kanzleramt.”
2016	The services of Causales are known as far as Manhattan! Causales takes on the first worldwide sponsoring mandate for the Leonard Bernstein anniversary in 2018. In addition, Causales distributes sponsorship licenses of further 181 cultural providers from Europe. The Causales team executes the CultureInvest-Congress in November with the motto "Quo Vadis Kulturmarkt?" with more than 50 partners, 85 speakers and 500 participants. The award ceremony of the 11th Cultural Brand Award in front of 575 guests from business, culture, media and politics is the most emotional of all times, gets Oscar-level and is broadcasted again worldwide by Deutsche Welle...
2017	Causales is being awarded with the “Lifetime Achivement Award” within the International Sponsoring Award 2017 for it’s lifework – after a succesful CultureInvest Congress with 500 participants with the slogan "Digital – and with all the senses!" and the 12th Cultural Brands Gala "Night of Cultural Brands" at the legendary Wintergarten Varieté Berlin – a very motivating end of the year for us! Causales is presenting 250 sponsoring licences of cultural providers on our online platforms and gets consultancy mandates in Europe. Antonia Callenberg quits the agency due to a change of residence, Causales is welcoming our new colleague Christine Fischer.
2018	15 years of Causales! The agency is looking forward to his anniversary year and produced the 10th CultureInvest" Congress and the 13th European Cultural Brand Award at the Radialsystem Berlin. Under the lead of Christine Fischer, a study is being conducted on the subject of “Aesthetic Cultural Sponsoring” which is going to be presented on the CultureInvest Congress on November 8 and 9 in Berlin.
2019	Zollverein Foundation takes the CultureInvest! Congress to the city of Essen in 2019! "Aufbruch nach Europa! Transform the Culture" is the motto of the 11th CultureInvest! Congress taking place from November 7 to 8, 2019 on the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein. Zollverein Foundation has succeeded in bringing Europe's largest cultural congress to the city of Essen with the presentation of the European Cultural Brand Award. This is possible with the kind support of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.