Aachen in focus: New impetus for the future of our city

Place Branding Aachen e.V. Joins Forces with Aachen ohne Limits and City Marketing on StageHow

is modern city marketing evolving in an era of civic engagement, new initiatives, and growing pressure for change? And what role do established institutions and new players play in this?

The Marketing Club invites you to an exciting panel discussion with representatives from Stadtmarketing Aachen and the newly founded association Place Branding Aachen e.V. with Aachen ohne Limits.

Together, we want to explore where synergies can arise and where different approaches and perspectives exist.

City Marketing – Today, cities are competing more fiercely than ever for attention, appeal, and trust. In recent years, city marketing has undergone a fundamental shift: moving away from pure image advertising toward strategic communication, participation, and authentic identity-building. How are communication, media use, and people’s expectations changing in times of crisis, social media, and societal change? And what answers can city marketing communicate in a credible, citizen-oriented, and sustainable way?

Place Branding Aachen e.V., with “Aachen ohne Limits,” explicitly does not see itself as a replacement for existing structures, but rather as a complementary initiative offering new impetus. This is precisely where the potential for constructive dialogue lies: How can we join forces to further develop Aachen together?

Key Learnings

💡 Insights into the strategies and goals of both organizations💡
Open discussion about opportunities for collaboration💡
Exciting perspectives from the field and community engagement💡
Exchange with guests from the business community, local society, and the marketing sector

Speakers

Detlef Funken loves shaping public administration and thinking beyond the confines of local government. In 2005, he moved from the City of Aachen to what was then the StädteRegion Aachen Special-Purpose Association to help establish the new regional authority and play a key role in developing its regional marketing strategy. Since the founding of the StädteRegion in 2009, he was responsible for public relations for many years and shaped the region’s public image with a clear focus on people, issues, and identity. In

2025, he returned to the City of Aachen as city spokesperson and took over as head of the Communications and City Marketing Department. With his many years of experience at the intersection of administration, public relations, and regional development, he stands for modern communication that looks beyond the “horizon.”

Carlo Matic has been a passionate digital entrepreneur for over 30 years. He is the founder and managing director of the digital brand studio Interactive Pioneers as well as a partner at the POWER+RADACH advertising agency. Together with brand specialist Zeljko Pezely, he initiated the movement for an effective location brand for Aachen—Place Branding Aachen e.V. with “Aachen without Limits.”

City of Aachen

The city of Aachen is one of the most important science, innovation and technology locations in Europe. With its unique combination of historical tradition, international research and high quality of life, it is actively shaping the future of urban development. The Communications and City Marketing department is responsible for the strategic external presentation of the city as well as the dialog with citizens, the media and the public.

Place Branding Aachen e.V. with Aachen without Limits

A movement to establish an effective city brand for Aachen culminated in the founding of Place Branding Aachen e.V. in the first quarter of 2026—backed by numerous prominent supporters from the business community, academia, and civil society. Under a shared brand umbrella, the association brings together the issues that shape Aachen today and tomorrow. The initiative’s goal is to raise Aachen’s profile as a place to live, work, and innovate, and to position the region more strongly both internally and externally through a unified approach.

Aachen without Limits is not a project. Not a one-off campaign. Not city marketing. Rather, it is a shared framework for issues that, taken together, are greater than any single actor and too relevant to be addressed in a fragmented and isolated manner.

Further information and registration