“MetaDesign helps companies and other organizations to become more successful in a way that is sustainable in the long run. We do that by working with our clients to tap into the strategic dimensions of their branding and communication processes and then allow these to unleash their full power. Design has always been a crucial instrument for corporate strategy. And I’m fully convinced that branding agencies will play an even greater role in the future because we give managers the tools they need to make decisions and act. As the world grows more complex, we translate the core idea of each company we work with into a clear message that reaches people because it touches their hearts.”

Uli Mayer-Johanssen founded MetaDesign with two business partners in Berlin in 1990. Since that time the corporate identity agency has blossomed into Germany’s leading agency for integrated branding.

As the chairwoman of the executive board, Uli Mayer-Johanssen is responsible for the content of the agency’s services and for the methods and strategies of its corporate identity and design processes. After finishing her studies in graphic design and stage design in Stuttgart, she completed a master’s degree in visual communication at the University of the Arts in Berlin in 1986. Before founding MetaDesign she was a managing partner of FAB Kommunikation, a design agency in Berlin.

Uli Mayer-Johanssen is a visiting professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin. She is also an instructor at the ESCP-EAP European Management School in Berlin and at the Institute for Arts and Media Management at the Free University of Berlin. A regular speaker at conferences and congresses (e.g. the Baden-Baden Entrepreneurial Exchange and the Bringmann Conference) as well as at leadership seminars (e.g. the Brand Academy of the German Design Council and the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland), she educates professionals on the importance of corporate identity and corporate design as instruments for strategic corporate management. She is a member of the board of trustees for the Berlinische Galerie Foundation and for the Akademie Schloss Solitude Foundation in Stuttgart.

Uli Mayer-Johanssen also writes frequent articles for a wide range of publications and is the editor of the annual MetaMagazin. In 2010 she was named Woman of the Year by Horizont, a German trade journal.

"Multi-sensory branding allows us to experience the identity of a company and its product brands in a unique way. This holistic differentiation to their competitors strengthens our clients’ market position and creates sustainable value. A fist is stronger than five fingers. That’s why we develop multi-media brand experiences: to secure the coherency and consistency of brands across the globe.“

Before joining MetaDesign, Tobias Phleps was the managing director of frog design in Berlin and the global client services director at Scholz & Friends in London. After finishing his degree in marketing, he started his career in advertising agencies in the early 1990s – always with passion for account and client management.

When he joined MetaDesign in 2002, he was responsible for the business development of the company, which was then a design agency employing 100 people. Under his leadership, clients like Siemens, Lufthansa, DHL, Nokia Siemens Networks and Merck Millipore joined the ranks of MetaDesign clients, leading to considerable growth for the company. He founded one of the agency's business units in 2004, and was appointed to the executive board in early 2007. Tobias Phleps established MetaDesign Ltd. in Beijing, China, in 2009, and was responsible for restructuring the in-house production unit. Today, Tobias is responsible for many of the agency's leading clients, the global business development team, and client management development at MetaDesign.