Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/761508
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 DECEMBER 2016 40 What's Dmax.tv all about? Launched in Malta in 2006, Dmax. tv is a Maltese-German boutique firm offering online business solu- tions serving clients in Europe, Af- rica and the Middle East. It is by no means a coincidence that many people in Malta associ- ate our firm with email market- ing software, since we have been a driver behind the use of this service in business – particularly Email In- telligence via the Dmaxepaper.com service. Businesses and professionals have finally realised that this medium provides unparalleled, traceable and real-time metrics; it is proven to deliver significantly higher re- sults at a fraction of the cost via traditional offline media – which cannot offer any reliable statistical record. Dmax.tv provides dedicated social media management solutions for the finance, professional and medi- cal/scientific sectors, with clients that include Malta's leading banks and finance institutions, multina- tional business advisory firms. We help our clients to monitor compe- tition while building and managing their online reputation. We provide a secure, professional and personal- ised service that helps our clients to monetise their online communica- tions. Our online knowledge share plat- form, Dmaxpedia, enables compa- nies with remote offices, partners or staff to work together, sharing data and documents working as one. Dmax.tv may well be one of Malta's most prolific branding houses. Why the low profile? Internationally, Dmax has been involved with IPOs and launches, for example, for the German equity firm Spuetz AG; our team has created iden- tities for the Israeli Cyber Security firm Cybro Group, i n t e r n a t i o n a l i n v e s t m e n t company 'Ver- tical Group' and for many of its global affili- ates – which incidentally have in- cluded Twister Group (which was also branded by Dmax), the Dutch founders of Big Brother (series 1-10), 'Deutschland Sucht den Su- perstar' (Pop Idols) and 'Das Su- pertalent' (Germany's Got Talent), amongst others. "Through our work in London - where we serviced clients in ICT and Transport, such as the Com- monwealth Telecommunications Organistion, a multinational body made up of telecommunications and ICT partners from around the Commonwealth - we came across interesting contacts based in Af- rica. Little did we know that these new friends, upon their return to their homelands, were going to convert themselves into our new business frontier," reminisces Ray. A project that has occupied Dmax for quite some time these past few years in fact was the identity, creation and pro- duction of Gha- na's first business magazine – the Ghana Business & Finance Magazine (aka GB&F), and its online portal. With contributors all over the world, GB&F was initially pro- duced monthly in Malta for Afri- can Business Media Ltd and with our initial support is now being laid out and printed in Accra. Dmax.tv is the brand advisor for this publi- cation and Mr de Bono is an active member of the editorial board. What three ideas could boost Malta's brand identity, if you had to suggest it to the Maltese government? Firstly, Malta is gasping for a comprehensive rebranding ex- ercise. This will do so much to strengthen our small country's soft power. We need ONE image for this nation. Not one for each economic sector. Malta needs an official government typeface, and a fixed set of identity guidelines. Our country needs to see improvement in its basic infrastructure, from new traffic signs (which are cur- rently not standardised), to road- side furniture (that is basic, if not primitive). For an EU economic top performer we surely deserve better, don't you think? Secondly, make sure that key government websites, particu- larly those attracting investment in Malta are looking at their very best, and that they are primarily ALL in good English. Alternative European languages, besides Mal- tese should include German and Italian. And third: Launch a state-fi- nanced TV channel, or at the very least a 24/7 radio station, that broadcasts ONLY in English. If we are attracting investors and expats to our lovely shores on the prom- ise that this is an English speaking nation, then we shouldn't let them down on something so easy to cre- ate on a national level (i.e. public funded). If PBS, the state broadcasting house, can afford to have a 24/7 juke-box station, 'Magic Malta', with due respect to the people in- volved, why not turn this resource to better use? So many tourists and expats in Malta complain that they have no access to good radio or TV news in English that broadcast news and information (as trivial as simple weather or traffic reports) from a local perspective. And if we are to employ local staff, can we make sure that their spoken Eng- lish and diction are up to scratch? Isn't English one of our official lan- guage, after all? As a leading provider of digital & social media services, how do you see social media complimentary to business development, particularly that of finance and professional service providers? In recruitment, lead generation, business development and PR, So- cial Media rules supreme over any other mediem in terms of public attention on a global level. According to mainstream LinkedIn stats, 35% of its users ac- cess this platform daily and 39% of them pay to use it via premium accounts. Over 25 million profiles are viewed on LinkedIn daily and one out of three professionals on the planet has a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is the strongest Profes- sional Network in the English Speaking world and a leading one in the Eurozone. While still not as popular in Mal- ta as it is in Northern European states, Twitter is expanding follow- ing locally too, attracting profes- sionals, business leaders, NGOs, politicians, students and academ- ics. Thousands of Maltese users are populating this platform which they consider less 'congested' than Facebook and more casual (and fun) than LinkedIn. And for the number crunchers out there, every second, on average, around 6,000 tweets are tweeted on Twitter worldwide, which corresponds to over 350,000 tweets sent per min- ute, 500 million tweets per day and around 200 billion tweets per year. Can you afford to stay out? Facebook leads the way globally in terms of its reach, and in Malta it is estimated that over 200,000 peo- ple use this platform, many of them daily. Overall, there are over 1.59 billion monthly active on Face- book; 307 million in Europe alone. 42% of marketers report that Fa- cebook is critical or important to their business. This is a crowded marketplace, but you can't af- ford to sit it out, because odds are fairly high that your competition is there. The key is to use Facebook marketing correctly and make sure that your efforts stand out from the crowd. Quite frankly, social media is way too big to ignore. Dmax.tv recently acquired a 40% interest in Tedlog.de… Tedlog.de is a German company based in Cologne, focusing on IT solutions for reverse logistics. Co- founded in 2013, the company is partly owned by Dmax.tv together with Tomlog.de, a consulting firm specialising in waste management. Our IT team in Malta is deliv- ering, and has over the past ten years acquired outstanding, if not unique, levels of knowledge on reverse logistics on the island and the future looks very exciting for Tedlog.de in Germany. Dmax.tv has upped ITS shares from 33% to 40% last year as we saw potential in the reverse logistics sector in Ger- many; an area where we have built a good reputation as solutions providers, thanks to our Maltese IT team. Tedlog.de clients, which in- clude sector leaders like Mammut, Logex, Ecocycle, Noventiz and GfR, are mainly recycling com- panies, generic or specialised col- lectors and logistics firms. These businesses operate under a strict German regime, which necessi- tates constant legal compliance, system audits, checks and bal- ances. Dmax is celebrating 10 years this year. Where do you see your business in five years' time? None of our companies' mile- stones would have been possible without the central role played by our staff in Malta and in Germany. Looking back to the past 10 years, we appreciate the guidance from people such as veteran industrial- ist Anthony Guillaumier – who serves as company chairman and mentor – and from his business partner Uwe Schoenfeld. Togeth- er, they found a way to combine the creative strengths of our firm with ICT and software skills and the recipe is bearing fruit. 10 years is a long time in business and our plans concentrate on con- tinuously upgrading our HR skills and in-house technologies; we want to remain relevant to our cli- ents' needs by providing them with innovative solutions which they see as essential for their business growth. It's a tall order but we're working on it every day. Read more at www.dmax.tv, www.dmaxepaper.com & www.tredlog.de Feature FULL TIME VACANCIES Serving blue chip international accounts for over a decade, Dmax.tv is a leader in Online/Digital Media Solutions. As part of our expansion in our Malta office, we're seeking to employ additional team members. Interested? Apply via email admin@dmax.tv, sending your CVs by Dec 20, 2016. Applicants must have an excellent command of both written and spoken English and in the case of graph ic/web designers, they must also send a portfolio of past projects along with their application. Only people with a minimum of one year experience in a similar position will be considered. FULL TIME FULL TIME & PART-TIME Dmax Business Centre, Cat Lane, Swatar Telephone +35621347990 Celebrating a start-up's decade of experience Uwe Schoenfeld and fellow co-founder of Dmax.tv Ray de Bono tell MaltaToday of some of their firm's projects around the world, Social Media Advisory Services, and their Reverse Logistics Solutions company in Germany Uwe Schoenfeld Ray de Bono