DANNEMANN - El noble cigarro.

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Hello, my name is Reijo Widerholm; however most of the people call me “Winski”. In 2004, I got an option to start working as Duty Free Manager with Ritmeester Cigars, a DANNEMANN subsidiary. I am based in Helsinki, Finland. My area of responsibility is Scandinavian and Baltic Duty Free and Travel Retail Operators like ferries, airlines, airports and border shops.

When I started in 2004 I already had some years of experience with Ritmeester products through an agent in the same area. But when I became a member of the big family I have learned a new lifestyle of enjoyment and way of thinking about cigars.

My main task in this job is first of all to increase sales, of course. I see this as a long term process because it is very important to build up relationships with key accounts. However, I see that it is also more than important to get a connection to the people who really sell our products to our consumers and have contact to potential new consumers. Therefore, I think that it is very important to get these people well trained and to increase our visibility out in the field. In these operational areas I have very good support and tools from the company. I also have the opportunity to use my own creativity and to design new tools and units together with our marketing department to help our “smiling consumers” to find our brands in the shops and bars.

I can proudly say that every day is different from the other and this means that I have new challenges every morning when I start the day. In my area we have some of the world’s most strict tobacco laws, but I see this more as a challenge than as an obstacle. It forces you to find new ideas how to reach the consumers. My philosophy is that you can never get anything done all alone by yourself. You need people around you as we have in our company, starting from Brazil, around the world, to the factories. And when all parts fit together, the result can only be a success.

Ritmeester Cigars gives me a lot of free space and trust so that I can concentrate on what is the most important. And even that I work almost alone up here close to the Polar Circle I never feel that I am alone because I get very good support and help when I need it from our regional office in the Netherlands or from our factories. Over all, I feel that I am a member of something big and I see that we work in a modern dynamic company which has a long history, and we work in a very international atmosphere looking to the future.

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Hello, my name is Sabine Drache. I am married and have two kids. I am working for DANNEMANN since 1990.

I started working in the overrolling department, where the cigar gets its wrapper. As you might imagine the production of a cigar requires high quality. This is why quality control is so important for us. Since 1998, I am in charge of the quality control for bunches on one hand and fillings on the other. I am responsible to grant our high quality standards by taking samples and analyzing them.

I enjoy being part of a skilled and motivated team and meeting different kinds of challenges each day. I have been working for DANNEMANN for 20 years now, so it has become part of my life. I feel comfortable and safe here and I absolutely identify with our products. And most of all, I appreciate that I have been taken seriously all these years.

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Hello, my name is Dominik Eichenberger. I started to work for DANNEMANN in Switzerland in 2002. My first position was Head of Sales Administration, which is the juncture between the sales force and key account management as well as the departments marketing, purchasing and production. Three years later, I was offered the opportunity to take over responsibility for trade marketing. In this function the main task was to plan all marketing measures at the different point of sales and to implement them sustainably. Since 2008, I am Marketing Manager for Switzerland and I lead a team of 65 staff members (full- and part-time). My main task is to lead, support and motivate my team in order to achieve sustainable communication with our smiling consumers through trade marketing, consumer marketing and very importantly, trough promotion.

Most of all I appreciate the versatility of my task. The range of my activities includes creation of new marketing materials or displays, leading the team as well as planning and budgeting of interdepartmental projects or designing annual plans. The international cooperation within DANNEMANN is becoming increasingly important. This is in my opinion an aspect that speaks as well for DANNEMANN. With DANNEMANN, no year is like the previous one as we always have to take into account new aspects, which we then incorporate in real time into our marketing activities. In addition, it is great fun to work for a consumer product and a strong emotional brand that bring enjoyment to our smiling consumers.

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Hello, my name is Marcus Strack. I am married and have one small daughter. I started working for DANNEMANN in 2005. Formerly, I was used to work in corporate groups with all the limitations those structures implicate. From the present point of view the decision to work in a medium-sized, long-term planning company was the most important one in my life.

DANNEMANN allows me to bring in my very own creativity at any time und enables me to take part in reorganizing the structures of our daily business. I also appreciate that the human resources policy does not focus on academic degrees only. As a consequence, I received the chance to develop from a Sales Manager to a National Key Account Manager within two years.

Another thing that I really like, is our hands on mentality, especially in the sales department. I regard this as a crucial requirement for a market leader to act efficiently and to create the market.