Credit where credit is due: What began as a humble carpentry workshop in Langenhagen has since become an internationally active full-service provider of sustainable brand staging services across all channels – analogue, digital, and hybrid.
On July 1, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary at its headquarters in Hannover-Langenhagen. At this event, shareholder Claus Holtmann and CEO Jörg Zeissig highlighted the company’s impressive evolution. Holtmann+ has stood for quality, innovation, and transformation since 1950. Peter Ottmann, CEO NürnbergMesse Group, personally expressed congratulations on behalf of the exhibition company, which has been a strategic partner and shareholder of Holtmann+ since 2010: “Today we celebrate a company that has reinvented itself many times since its founding. Within the NürnbergMesse Group, Holtmann+ is an innovation driver that continually reimagines the trade fair experience to the benefit of the entire Group.”
“The history of Holtmann+ has been shaped by people who are passionate about changing the world. The balance between tradition and transformation is essential to our company”, said Jörg Zeißig, CEO of Holtmann+. “Our work has been and will always be informed by values such as trust, partnership, and sustainable innovation – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”
From workbench to world stage
The story of Holtmann+ begins with the brothers Wilhelm and Walter Holtmann. In the 1960s, they were quick to see the potential of the nascent trade fair construction business. Their first projects took them to Paris, Moscow, and London. In the 1980s, Holtmann continued to drive the evolution of this business with engineering innovations such as the GEOBAU creativity space. Holtmann came to be renowned for its unique combination of top-quality workmanship, highest design standards, and sustainability.
When the next management generation took the reins in the 1990s, the company made a successful push for strategic growth. The Expo 2000 became a showcase, international projects commonplace. In the subsequent years, Holtmann+ evolved into a forward-looking brand staging business grounded in the core values of digitalisation, sustainability, and creativity. This spirit of innovation is exemplified by the company’s “Black Box”, a type of showroom and creativity space.
Transformation to a brand experience platform
The 2020s began with the challenge posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Undeterred, Holtmann+ treated this challenge as an opportunity for profound transformation, as the trade fair construction company remade itself as a full-range provider of live communication services. The company met the challenge of a permanently altered market with a new brand strategy, sustainable solutions, and digital formats. Customers like Stadler, WAGO, and IdeenExpo place their trust in the innovative spirit and execution strength of Holtmann+.
Today, Holtmann+ has 130 employees and is part of an international network. Sustainability is firmly embedded in the company’s strategy – not only in terms of materials and processes, but as a fundamental aspect of the company’s philosophy. The company’s sights are set on the future. For Holtmann+, the 2025 anniversary year is not an end point, but a starting point for the next era of active transformation.
More information about the company’s history and 75th anniversary can be found at: www.holtmannplus.de/historie (german only)
