Day 2 MACHN 2025: The festival for tech, business and art

Over 70 speakers, over 2500 participants, and over 100 sessions. This is what awaited us at MACHN 2025. We were live again this year and bring you a summary of our learnings!

Table of Contents

• From quotas and glass ceilings: The modern working world as a challenge

• From 1,000 to 100,000 followers: The strategy of a Leipzig influencer

• Let's make advertising that the brain understands

• From boring to award-winning: Communication that inspires

• More than likes: How social media creates real business value in medium-sized businesses

• Launching your new brand: How to build content communication for it

• "But it's not so good with hands just yet": How imaging AI is changing the media world

The second day of MACHN starts for me around 9:30 am at the festival site. At 10 am, I attend the first lecture, shortly after the collective morning exercise.

On quotas and glass ceilings: The modern world of work as a challenge

At the MACHN Stage, Annahita Esmailzadeh speaks inspiringly about quotas and glass ceilings.

My learnings?

• Kevins and Chantalles are disadvantaged with equal qualifications. Sophies and Alexanders are preferred.
• We tend to surround ourselves with people who are similar to us. This is called 'Affinity Bias'. This creates harmonious teams, but also problems in illuminating different facets.
• Own opinions are often adapted to the collective, especially among minorities, in order to protect oneself. This is called 'Conformity Bias'. This behavior can reinforce discrimination and toxic habits in the long run.
• Sometimes, individual characteristics of a person become their defining factor. Then a person may seem, for example, to always do everything right ('Halo Effect') or to always do everything wrong ('Horn Effect'). And all this based on a single habit, action, or behavior.
• By 2036, one third of the current workforce will be gone. Companies can no longer afford to exclude individuals based on diversity characteristics in the long run.

From 1,000 to 100,000 Followers: The Strategy of a Leipzig Influencer

After the excellent presentation, I make my way to the Creative Stage. Here, Francis Müller speaks with influencer Michelle Ziegelmann from @neuseenkraut about how she brought her brand from 1,000 to 100,000 followers (although the title of the event is no longer quite correct, as Michelle's channel reached the 200,000 mark that same morning 🙂).

My Learnings?

• Michelle has found that a frequency of two videos per day has helped her grow. She also recommends focusing on authenticity and direct communication in front of the camera. The community and their questions should not be neglected.
• Continuous development is an important part of success. One must regularly shake things up and try a lot. However, the focus on quality should not be neglected.
• Nobody likes teachers. Good content takes the listeners on a journey instead of lecturing them. In general, it helps to consider what emotions should be evoked with a post.
• Featured products perform well when they are not promoted in a sales-y manner. Additionally, brands should be repeatedly and actively shown both in the foreground and background to make it clear that the influencers actually use them. This should also be done across multiple videos.

Let's make advertising that the brain understands

The next lecture I'm attending at Ideenplanet Ost is also one of my favorites at the festival. At 12:30 p.m., Steve Rettke speaks about advertising that the brain understands.

My Learnings?

• From an advertising perspective, the brain is divided into three areas: reptilian brain, limbic system, and neocortex. In other words, the part responsible for basic primal emotions and functions, the part that processes emotions, and the part that processes facts. Almost all decisions are made in the second part, the limbic system. However, information only reaches that far if it captures our attention in the first 13 milliseconds and appeals to the reptilian brain. That's why disgust, fear, hunger, and arousal work very well as advertising tools.
• The attention span is now only 1.2 seconds. In this time, we must absorb, process, and understand advertising messages. The more complex the advertising (and the more fact-heavy), the less likely this process will be successful.
• People justify their emotionally driven decisions with rewards. Therefore, arguments on a factual level should be formulated as rewards to be effective.

From dull to award-worthy: Communication that inspires

Also on the Ideas Planet East stage, Carola Sels speaks at 1:30 pm on "Communication that inspires".

My Learnings?

• Reaching a broad target audience is a big challenge that doesn't always succeed. If you want to increase your chances, it helps to segment the target audience.
• 44% of consumers prefer personalized shopping experiences. 74% are even tempted to buy new products through personalization. Identity and individuality then become the link between the wide range of offerings and the customers.

More than Likes: How Social Media Creates Real Business Value for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

I continue my journey at 2 pm on the MACHN Stage, where Marc Rosenkranz has been exploring how Social Media creates real business value for small and medium-sized enterprises.

My Learnings?

• AI generates content faster than we can consume it. This leads to an overflow of information. It is becoming more necessary to show that something is real rather than to prove that it is fake. The internet is becoming increasingly unreliable.
• The algorithms of social media platforms do not sort based on truth or usefulness, but on entertainment value. Therefore, the topic must be rethought, especially in the medium-sized enterprise sector. The number of followers becomes less relevant, but the ability to go viral becomes more important. Social channels are not a sales channel, but a retainer and touchpoint for old and new customers. The content must be adjusted along the customer journey according to the goal. This includes subtitles, format selection, tone, and trends.

Launch of your new brand: How to build the content communication for it

At 2:30 p.m., I listen to Lutz Leukhardt in the Ideenplaneten Ost area on the topic of 'Launch of your new brand'. He talks about how many brands miss an important moment to connect with their customers: the Pre-Launch.

My Learnings?

• A brand should start talking about its visions, ideas, goals, and values long before the product is put on sale. This way, a fanbase can develop and people can learn to like and want to buy a product before it is even available.
• When you communicate the development of a brand, the content of the 'early years' and the growing audience quickly become multipliers.
• Topics that can be discussed early on include: Vision, Drive, Development, Design, People behind the brand, Community questions and answers.

But she can't do the hands so well yet": How imaging AI is changing the media world

The last lecture for me starts at 3 p.m. On the MACHN Stage, I listen to Andreas O. Loff giving his lecture on imaging AI and the media world. He talks a lot and openly about his journey into the world of AI videos and how he found his love for different tools.

My Learnings?

• AI can become art when humans use it as a collaborative tool, infused with effort and creativity.
• Playing is an important and active process in developing creativity. Passion for play and exploration helps to discover and understand new tools and applications.