"THE NEW": A different kind of work announcement
Thoughts on culture, technology, and the joy of taking your time.
Time flies, things happen and suddenly it's 2025 and I never announced that I'm available for work & collaborations. Mostly because I was quite busy with a few engagements – more on this below – but also because after working for nearly 20 years without any significant break, I did enjoy a change of pace. I'm not the kind of person who enjoys doing nothing for a very long time. I would describe the phase last year as an active discovery in which I allowed myself to explore projects in gastronomy and started working on a textile product with my good friend and film director Ken-Tonio Yamamoto (watch his feature length docupoem about Stone Island). That – unsurprisingly – takes a whole lot longer to get done than one would assume without having any form of experience in the field. That being said, working on physical, tactile prototypes is a joy. Materiality matters. Especially in the age of AI.
So, after you have made it through a whole paragraph of a white man in his 40s reflecting on how he goes through life, what does it all mean? Like, really? Well, it means that, for the first time in my life, I actually have a website with my name on it. You can look at it! In fact, I would love you to look at it and give me feedback. Do not hold back. I mean it.
Sidebar: I built it with Cargo Collective but there's lots of custom code in it and bar my ability to extract the most useful things from our new(-ish) AI overlords, I wouldn't be able to point to a website I actually built myself without (much) support.
This is the age in which a researcher and strategist like myself, focusing on culture and technology, can manipulate – in the original sense of the word, not you know, in the nasty way – not just decks. I will go ahead and say that the job description "Creative Technologist" will re-emerge with a force and for good reason. Today, one person who knows how to ask the right questions will be able to outperform mediocre agencies and consultancies. That's not a brag, it's a reality.
“THE NEW”
I subsumed all of this under a moniker: "THE NEW". I map, shape and frame "THE NEW". Which, if you've been doing it for as long as I have, is many different things. We've all seen big and small trends come and go. The point is to be aware of what is happening without ever losing sight of what makes you, you. Like you personally, you as a brand, you as an organization. I'm not offering "CHASING THE NEW" after all. There are plenty of other people you can talk to about that. Oh, and if you know me well enough, you'll find it hard to believe that I'm referencing the late Virgil Abloh (Artistic Director, Louis Vuitton men; founder of Off-White, and many many many things more) with this. His quotation marks used to drive me nuts but it turns out: he was right all along.
Oh and it's fun if you use it as a subdomain for a publication: thenew.igorschwarzmann.com.
Substack, I know. On the one hand, I genuinely admire their product strategy. On the other hand, I do really dislike, you know, them liking Nazis. Which, weirdly, is the duality in which much of the internet finds itself these days. A duality that makes navigating any commercial space, be it as an individual, an organization or a company, increasingly precarious. And, to be frank, unsatisfying. It's not impossible but it requires commitment, genuine curiosity and informed naivety. The capacity to not-doing stupid shit but also actually-doing something because all the planning, all the meetings, all the waiting for "it to be ready" will not get us anywhere. Alternative narratives require narratives to be told, not just planned.
Here’s a (heavily) curated list of what I have been up to recently.
WDR/ARD
I've had the pleasure of reuniting with Arne Orgassa and the WDR Innovation Hub team, continuing a partnership that began in 2019 when we built their Foresight team from the ground up. As they celebrate their 5th anniversary, they stand as one of the most successful and thriving foresight teams in the industry. My recent contributions have focused on developing modern, scalable trend monitoring processes that not only enhance collaboration across WDR but extend to other LRAs (I’m not even going to attempt to translate this one) and the broader ARD network. This work exemplifies how thoughtfully designed foresight processes can create lasting organizational impact.
(Watch me take the stage with Andrea Schafarczyk & Arne to give insights in why the Innovation Hub managed to be so successful at last years republica conference. It’s an interesting experience to step onto the stage after Ursula von der Leyen.)
Sense Worldwide
I've also had the privilege of collaborating with the exceptional team at Sense Worldwide out of London (thanks again for the connection, John Willshire). A special shout out to David, Jeremy, Lee, Tim, Alex & Rakshita for bringing me into an intensive brand strategy project for a US luxury client. We explored cultural evolution around luxury and well-being, engaging with field experts to map emerging trends. The caliber of the team and the project's pace made this particularly rewarding.
Alldoro
My first big project for this year is working with the toy manufacturer Alldoro. They* tasked me with creating an AI-forward brand and content strategy for them. This will allow the company to move beyond a pure B2B approach and establish a sensible D2C strategy. This aligns with my conviction that AI technologies can significantly enhance small and medium-sized businesses' operations – not by replacing core propositions, but by enabling previously unattainable opportunities.
(* They being Karl Schenk and his wife Luisa. Karl and I met during his time at Volkswagen/CARIAD when I was still running Third Wave and later working for Edenspiekermann. The scale of what we are doing now might be different but the trusting work relationship remains the same.)
Digitalagentur Berlin
Over the next couple of months, I will also have the pleasure of engaging with local SMBs even more. Working with Digitalagentur Berlin, I will have the opportunity to speak to many different SMBs across Berlin (Lichtenberg, Marzahn, here we go...). These companies often are willing to engage in fundamental transformation but lack the resources to do so meaningfully. If I can even help just a little bit, I am more than happy to do so. This was made possible via the ever connecting Dirk von Gehlen.
How to Work with Me
With nearly 20 years of experience, I bring both deep expertise and rapid integration capabilities to every engagement. I sketched out a map of what I cover.
Whether your organization needs to understand how AI could enhance operations, identify emerging market opportunities, or develop new strategic narratives, I can help. All services can be combined into custom packages, adjusted in scope, and delivered remotely or in person. I scale my approach to fit different team sizes and organizational needs.
Ideal For
I operate at the intersection of culture and technology, making me particularly effective for organizations navigating:
Cultural Transformation & Innovation - Where my third culture background enables unique pattern recognition in identifying emerging shifts and opportunities
AI Strategy & Integration - Helping organizations thoughtfully adopt AI capabilities without chasing unattainable trends
Brand Evolution & Market Positioning - Translating cultural insights into actionable strategies that resonate with emerging consumer behaviors
Agencies and consultancies bring me in to:
Rapidly enhance their strategic capabilities for specific pitches or projects
Provide specialized cultural and technological insight
Lead innovation processes or transformation initiatives
Contribute senior-level strategic thinking with minimal onboarding needs
Whether you need strategic support for an upcoming pitch or want to discuss longer-term collaboration, I'm here to help.
Feel free to reach out for a preliminary discussion – I'm always eager to explore how my expertise might align with your challenges. And if you know someone who might benefit from this kind of strategic support, I'd be grateful for introductions.
You can schedule a call directly via my calendar or reply to this email to start the conversation.
P.S.: One point on geography. I set myself a goal and it's a simple one: I want 50% of my work to be outside of Germany. I have strong relationships here and I look forward to building on top of my existing relationships as well as working with new people here. But as things are, I find an unmistakable calling in myself to embrace the fact that I am, in fact, not from one place. That I am a product of more than one culture and I would like to work in more than one culture. Luckily, this is already manifesting through my collaborations with Sense but also with Scott, Susan and Henry on Foom.