DCMN lives and breathes growth – not only for our clients, but also for our business. Over the past years, we’ve grown at a dazzling speed, outpacing all but 44 companies in Europe (*according to FT 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2018). On our constant quest to help people’s businesses grow, we ourselves grew into a worldwide brand and a truly international company: Our team currently consists of 200 members from 40 different nationalities, based in our headquarters in Berlin or one of our eight international offices in Europe (London, Munich, Paris, Wrocław) and overseas (Bangalore & Gurgaon, Cape Town, New York).

And of course we are aware that growth needs water and that a healthy global organism needs its molecules to grow together, not grow apart. For this reason, DCMN once a year invites all its employees to a company retreat, which, after Barcelona, Marrakech, and Tuscany, this year led us to the Croatian island of Obonjan. In the paradisiacal setting of a mediterranean mirage DCMN staff from across the globe came together for four days in mid-June to grow team spirit and shape the future of the company.

Sounds like a gigatonne of fun, you say? We’re not gonna lie: We did have a gigatonne of fun!

In between the crystal blue sea, the rocky coastline and sea-view cabins, we delved into live music, went soul searching during hikes across the rugged island, lived through football world cup drama and relaxed over risotto-induced industry chats on inflatable flamingos by the pool. We had a drink or two. It was colourful.

But of course there was more to the retreat than just fun for fun’s sake. DCMN is not just on a trajectory to grow, but on a mission to grow strong.

The change of location, away from desks and offices, allowed for a collective change of perspective, budding fresh ideas from relaxed creative muscles. It gave everyone the opportunity to put actual faces to Slack avatars and email addresses, and to have real-life conversations with previously telephone-only acquaintances. On Obonjan, colleagues – the latest additions only having started their DCMN adventure the week prior to the trip – seized the chance to get to know each other (better) across functions and departments, and to grow closer as a team. This way, the retreat experience has enabled our boss-less organisational structure of trust-based, autonomous teams to be lived and evolved organically – and ultimately will help us work better together.

In order for our company culture and identity to shift into next gear, in our carry-on luggage we brought a new logo and brand concept to the island. You can read all about the rebranding we revealed to the entire company on Obonjan here. What’s important to know is that the new brand was designed to reflect our identity and purpose as data-driven innovators with a digital-first mindset, the wide-ranging colour code representing the diversity of our company, our vast well of expertise and the agile, flexible and modular way we work. It represents DCMN as an organism whose superpower is its heterogeneous makeup, its DNA made up of different walks of life, backgrounds, and languages.

For a rebranding to be success- and meaningful, of course, it takes more than just a new logo – and even a bit more than very nice, immediately immersive merchandise.

First of all, in order for everyone to be able to feed the wild creature of our corporate identity, to shape it and challenge it and improve it, each DCMN team member needs to understand DCMN. So throughout the rebranding process – which was headed by our founders Matthias and Andreas, the Brand and Corporate Communications teams, drew from the creative potentials of the business teams, and culminated in the celebratory reveal on Obonjan – we worked together towards a common understanding of the evolution, the uniqueness and the future needs of the company.

Secondly, in order for our brand identity to come to life, it takes continuous hard work by each team member, work to internalise what DCMN stands for. Which is why we put it to practice in an Olympics-style competition, in which small teams competed in disciplines designed around DCMN’s brand personality, consisting of an inspiring cocktail of creative, digital and physical challenges. The award ceremony could be described as a smooth transition to the joys of pool and dancefloor.

During our company retreat, we laid the foundations for a successful future, as we came closer to the delicate balance between consistently representing DCMN’s identity and vision, visually and verbally – while at all times staying curious, critical, bold and unconventional. Under the Croatian sun we brought 40 nations and 200 employees together to find our own unique voice, we practiced singing scales and dancing to our own eclectic heartbeat – and now we are ready to joyfully, passionately and confidently share our anthem with the entire world. Growing the market leaders of tomorrow requires growing our team spirit today.

If you’re interested in learning more about the DCMN experience please contact us or if you want to join the flamingo flock, have a look at our current openings. Either way, we’d love to hear from you! #lifeatdcmn