SPROTTEN, SALTWATER, SAILING CITY: Janine and Jonas
“The fact that the success of the ‘Sealevel’ has far exceeded expectations makes up for everything.”
Janine Streu and Jonas Godau initiated and realised the "Sealevel" in Kiel's Holstenstraße together with the teams from Kiel-Marketing and the city as well as external partners from a wide range of sectors. I spoke to the two of them about travelling from their desks to the deep sea, why the Lord Mayor and guests from Bavaria are so enthusiastic and how to survive long dry spells.
How do you actually plan a trip to the deep sea from your desk in the office?
Janine: It actually started at my desk. I had found a big article in the newspaper about the planned digital marine visualisation centre. I read the article and saw the picture of this really iconic building - a great vision. I immediately thought: if this is coming to Kiel, then it has to be visible in the heart of the city. At the time, a funding programme for sustainable cities and centres was emerging. This enabled us to pursue our two objectives: On the one hand, we wanted to bring ourselves as a marine conservation city, in which we define and identify ourselves strongly by the sea, into the city centre and thus into the centre of society. On the other hand, we want to make our city centre fit for the future, just as the funding title stipulates.
We know that retail can no longer be the only type of use. Experience concepts must also always be integrated. So this idea was born at the desk. After we received the approval of the funding programme, the work began. Yes, we sit at our desks a lot and develop concepts, but we are also real doers.
Janine-Christine Streu
Head of Neighbourhood Development and Settlement, City Centre Management, Kiel-Marketing e.V.
Jonas Lasse Godau
City Centre Manager, Kiel-Marketing e.V.
Jonas: I see it the same way. From the time I was on board, we were on site a lot. It was an ongoing process in which we prepared the site together with the team. We discussed a lot with the partners there and also took on all kinds of tasks ourselves. We took care of transport, installed and hung things up. From the desk, it really became a 24/7 on-site project. That was the only way the whole thing could work in the end.
There is a lot of scientifically based information in the Sealevel. But it is, as you say, an experience space in which visitors are taken by the hand from the coast to the deep sea at the back of the Sealevel. What have you learnt from this concept for communicating scientific and rather complex content to people who don't come from a scientific background?
Janine: If we want to communicate science, then it has to be about emotions, impressive images and low-threshold content. When you walk through the sea level, these large-format images are impressive and they touch you. You take a lot with you. The next level is the communication of content via texts. However, these are formulated in such a way that they can be easily skimmed by adults and even older primary school children can understand them. If there are technical terms, these are also explained again in normal language. If you want to delve deeper, you have the option of reading further. In any case, you are initially curious and "fed", which is exactly what this room does.
© Kiel-Marketing
Who are the majority of visitors to the Sealevl?
Jonas: It's very diverse, and that was exactly our aim. Right from the start, we wanted to inspire both children and experts, and I believe that we have succeeded with this concept. We have very quickly developed into an extracurricular educational centre. We have a lot of school classes who visit our events or who are simply interested in this place. We then very quickly developed a rally so that the children can go on a kind of journey through the Sealevel. But many families also come. That's exactly the issue we always have in city centres: There's a lack of families. It's the chicken and egg problem: "We don't have any families, so we don't have anything for families." But we can now see that if you create a suitable offer, the families will come.
Janine: The ball pit, which you can see in the shop windows, is of course striking from the outside. You immediately get the impression that you can literally just jump into the room. In addition to the families and school classes who come to events such as readings and film screenings, we are also noticing that more and more people are coming who are really interested in the topic. I believe that there is still huge potential here. Because you have to remember that we haven't been here for very long, only since the opening in January. It takes time for people to realise that there is something new and exciting. But if we look to the future, we know that there is still a lot to come. In any case, we know that we are addressing the target groups that we wanted to.
“The maximum is five stars, and we are at 4.7, which means satisfaction is very high. We are therefore planning to keep the Sealevel in 2026.”
Janine Streu
Kiel Marketing is the marketing organisation of the state capital Kiel, covering the areas of tourism, sailing & business, and city management. Kiel Marketing is structurally divided into a limited company (German: GmbH), which primarily acts as a multiplier for the Kiel.Sailing.City brand, and an association (German: Verein), which focuses on providing impetus for development in the above-mentioned fields of work.
How is the feedback from visitors?
Janine: Super good. When we leaf through the guest book, it's always great to read. People don't just come from Kiel. Just today I read an entry from a lady who comes from the north - from the north of Bavaria. Many people write how much they like the space and that it absolutely has to stay. They just proactively write that in the guest book. But we also have a real feedback system in which we specifically ask for visitor feedback. The maximum is five stars, and we are at 4.7, which means that satisfaction is very high. We are therefore planning to keep the Sealevel in place in 2026.
Jonas: We are also continuing to develop everything. For example, we now have an audio guide and VR glasses. We are constantly creating new incentives to keep people coming back. These are small, subtle things that we are trying out and that are going down really well. The numbers speak for themselves. That's what makes it so nice to be involved in this project.
What is your personal highlight at Sealevel?
Jonas: For me, the project itself is the highlight. It's something very special because it has such a big impact on this city. It's just really nice.
Janine: For me, it's specifically the deep sea room, which proves that you can create something great even on a small budget. I also think the rubbish scanner is great. If you run it over various objects that are floating as rubbish in the sea, you can see how long they take to decompose. How long does a nappy take? How long does a tin can take? When you read this, you have a real hello-wake-up effect. We also want to raise people's awareness and encourage them to question their behaviour in order to protect the oceans.
So the sea level has great activation potential?
Janine: Absolutely. That was our aim and I think we have achieved it. This activation should take place between the lines. We want to fascinate people and sensitise them to the topic of the oceans. Visitors can then also think about what they themselves can do to help conserve them.
You also want to activate on a larger scale. You already mentioned the digital marine visualisation centre. The Lord Mayor of Kiel, Ulf Kämpfer, said in an interview that it should definitely happen. From your experience, how important is it that the experience spaces today have a large digital component? Many other experience centres or museums offer this nowadays.
Janine: Even though "digital" is not in our name, we are already quite digital. Whether it's a stele where you can try out and click on lots of things, or the ability to measure fish lengths and see digitally whether they are ready to be fished. Now VR goggles are also being added, which allow you to immerse yourself in another world in a completely different way. The digital world offers so many possibilities. We still have a few ideas in mind, for example, how to appeal to people who can't come to Kiel. Is it possible to recreate the experience virtually? Nevertheless, I think it's very important to have all the haptic and analogue elements on site at the same time.
“That’s why we have these digital offerings, but they always have a haptic aspect as well. You will never be able to touch this fish in the digital world.”
Jonas Godau
© Kiel-Marketing
We can follow Boris Hermann on the Malizia or Arved Fuchs on the Dagmar Aaen on social media. Do we still need a physical location for such experiences?
Janine: The secret is this mixture of the haptic and the digital. I think it's great that I can touch the fish and place it on something, which then displays further information digitally. I think the creators of the marine visualisation centre have already taken this on board. I can also imagine using the digital version as a teaser. Ultimately, however, our mission as a tourism and city marketing organisation is to get people from Kiel out of their homes or from other cities and countries to come to Kiel. That they meet in this place. After all, that's what this place is for: it's a meeting place.
Jonas: Some things just don't work so well online. A reading on site, for example. Lectures, workshops or film screenings. They thrive on the fact that people can interact with the filmmakers. That doesn't work as closely in a virtual space. That's why we have these digital programmes, but they always have a haptic aspect. You will never be able to touch this fish in the digital world.
It was already a meeting place for you months in advance. After the desk work with countless applications, you met again and again in a large team here on site and made the project what it is today. What was this collaboration like and which different stakeholders were involved?
Janine: We had a very strong partner in Innopiloten, especially for the areas of set-up, conceptualisation and implementation, with whom the collaboration also worked extremely well on an interpersonal level. It is always very important to work together as equals. We continue to work closely with Innopiloten. But then it was also our own team. We are a good mix of very different characters. What unites us all is this "We want to do this". We want to make it here. We approach things with optimism and have a lot of fun ourselves. And then you can convey this fun well.
Jonas: Yes, that would also be an addendum for my personal highlight. It was a few days before the opening when we completed this area together with the Innopilots, the core team and others from the Kiel marketing team. We screwed on mouldings. We prepared the deep-sea room. You could always feel that everyone was fully involved and willing to help, which is not a matter of course. The other external partners such as GEOMAR, the university and the university of applied sciences also delivered things at an incredible speed. Everyone had so much drive, and that also has an effect on you when you realise that there are people who are simply keen on this project. Then you get even more involved.
Janine: They also had an incredible amount of trust in us and our concept. When I said that a low-threshold solution would be better for scientific texts, for example, I was curious to see how they would react. But it was always the case that we all treated each other with the utmost respect and trust. That really inspired me. We hadn't had much to do with these research institutions in our field before, so it's still a very pleasant experience.
© Kiel-Marketing
Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer at the opening of the Sealevel
“Visit us in Kiel and let’s think together about what we can do to protect the oceans.”
Model of the planned “digital marine visualisation centre” on the Kiellinie
I think you earn trust through your own expertise and accessibility. In this respect, it's not a one-way street. What could cooperation beyond the institutes, for example with companies, look like?
Janine: We are actually working intensively on involving the private sector as well. The companies, organisations and associations do not necessarily come from the oceans or marine conservation sectors. They are simply very interested in strengthening the location in the city centre because they know that this is good for the city as a whole. The programme ends in November. That's why we held a lot of talks back in July and described our situation.
We've already received some great promises that they would be willing to support us - and without anything in return. Sure, maybe they want a small sponsorship board. Some have smaller, special requests, but many give us significant amounts because they say they want things to continue here. That's great. I don't mind giving a figure: As of September, we have already been promised €72,000, but we need €115,000 for the first year. So we are really close and therefore have the chance to submit another funding application to generate the remaining funds. To come back to your question: The private sector has definitely taken notice of this space and recognised the potential for the city.
“This is exactly in line with our philosophy and mentality: ‘We all sail in the same boat’. It’s about bringing very different players together.”
Janine Streu
It's great and almost extraordinary that everyone here is pulling so closely together. For the Ocean Race Europe, we in the Kiel marketing team developed a storyline for internal and external collaboration and for generating sponsorship money: "We're all sailing in the same boat." We literally got a lot of companies on board and raised 70% more money than planned. Do you feel that it is helpful to develop a story that applies to everyone in order to pull together?
Janine: That must be the motto of city marketing and urban development in particular. People always talk about co-operative urban development. That's exactly what it is. Only expressed much more beautifully, much more maritime. It's exactly in line with our philosophy and mentality: 'We all sail in the same boat' It's about bringing very different players together. In the end, we all have the same goal. Of course, we may have different interests. Making money often comes first. But we are happy to help companies to be successful. If this results in sales that serve a common goal, it's perfect. We have already noticed that there has been a mindset change in urban and neighbourhood development in recent years. We are still at the beginning. But the door is open.
Jonas: It's exactly what the story deck wanted and achieved: Simply to bring more storytelling into the whole thing. To be honest, it has to be said that this is difficult to implement internally due to our resources for our area. We basically have other core tasks. But there is so much to tell about the Sealevel: about our work, all the partners, but above all, of course, about the content on site. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone in our department who could do this.
© Kiel-Marketing
The Storydeck has its own person who organises content across silos and tries to organise responsibilities within the Kiel marketing team.
Jonas: We only have four people in the team on site, which is actually too few to realise all the other ideas we still have. But we just do it because we believe in it. Unfortunately, you have to say at one point or another: we can't do it now, as unfortunate as that is. But it would be nice if we could realise some of the things we've done in the area of communication with the story deck.
Janine: I would even separate this from the Sealevel project. The whole topic of neighbourhood development needs more storytelling, more personalities who are given the floor. Not everyone wants to be in the front row, but we have so many personalities in the context of our work who are committed to the city. Both at business and urban planning level. These people simply become more tangible and approachable. There's the old corner shop story, for example. Why is there someone behind the counter? Someone I can simply talk to when I'm shopping. This is exactly what you can create in a modern, contemporary city centre context by introducing the people who work, including those at the desks, and showing how passionate they are and how much heart and soul they put into their work.
Of course, you have to remember that the story deck is just the tip of the iceberg. Eighty per cent of the work is in the back end, overcoming internal silos and getting individual players to work together. Sometimes it works, sometimes less so. It not only brings new and exciting content, but also a new and exciting way of working together. That can be time-consuming. I'm sure you've experienced a few dry spells yourselves, haven't you?
Jonas: During the whole development, there have been a few moments when you've opened the painter's door at seven in the morning and finished it after 9 pm because something was still being delivered. You thought to yourself: "Wow, that's a lot of work." That went on for a long time. In addition to this project, we also had our other work that continued. You ask yourself: "Can we do it all?" We thought the project would be well received. But the fact that the success is now far beyond what we expected makes up for everything. That's when you realise what you're doing it for.
Janine: I think it's simply the case that there is always a great deal of personal conviction behind our projects. That also applies to the others in the city with whom we work well. With tradespeople, with urban planning or with the city in general - right up to the Lord Mayor. All of this drives us on. And that carries you through all doubts and obstacles.
© Kiel-Marketing GmbH – Interview: Ralf Löwe / sonofasailor.de
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