Zurich Road Conversations 2008
The participants of Kuoni’s first Getaway Council (from left to right): Nadine Strittmatter, Chris Sanderson, Remo Masala, Henrik Vibskov, Peaches, Nigel Barley. (Not in the picture: the feet of Kjell Nordstrom).
KJELL NORDSTRÖM
He is one of the most influential management masterminds and economic visionaries worldwide. The associate professor at the Institute for International Business at the Stockholm School of Economics wrote the thesis that companies must strike new paths in order to be prepared for the future: their creative impotence has to be overcome, rigid hierarchies have to be given up. The customer has the power over the market, and in the future products and services will be in demand that are dazzling, new, unusual, individual and awaken the emotions.
NADINE STRITTMATTER
Switzerland’s best known model, has walked the runway for Chanel, Dior, Gaultier and Armani. Through her work, Strittmatter is constantly moving through the glamorous luxury world, but for her “Luxury is a feeling of home-coming.”
CHRIS SANDERSON
He is one of the most important international trend researchers. His research on consumer behaviour and market development of the future, especially in the luxury area, is an important orientation guide for many companies. Sanderson describes a trend towards more individuality and service, and he recognises a “hunger for more life rather than more stuff“. The intensity of personal experiences, like those made while travelling, plays a decisive role in the luxury world of the future.
REMO MASALA
Remo Masala has been in various Senior Marketing positions in the Tourism Industry. As CMO of designhotels.com he has developed various hotel concepts, e.g. “25 hours hotel” and “Superbude” in Hamburg. As a freelancer he was a consultant for several global brands, e.g. BMW/Mini, Microsoft, Bacardi and Marlboro. 2007 he joined the Kuoni Group in Zurich, where his function today is Chief Branding and Marketing Officer.
HENRIK VIBSKOV
Henrik Vibskov is a fashion pop star in Denmark and a dazzling figure on the young, international scene. His spectacular fashion shows are unorthodox productions, which knock customs on the head like his crazy, playful, colourful designs.
PEACHES
The do–it–yourself leader of the electro punk movement is loved by true innovators as diverse as Iggy Pop, Bjork or Lil Kim – not to mention the entire fashion and art world: Travel is all about trying on new identities… “always in an effort to find yourself.”
NIGEL BARLEY
Nigel Barley is Great Britain’s most well known ethnologist. Through his books, he has made ethnology accessible to a wide audience in an extremely entertaining and often ironic way. He is occupied with the question of what is foreign and how we encounter the foreign.