The smart connections project from KOSTAL Industrie Elektrik

The "Smart connections." project

Our brand promise "Smart connections." is based on responsible actions as a family-owned company, a comprehensive concept of partnership, our quality-offensive thinking and our future programmes.

Music connects too! This is why we created our "Smart connections." project, to perfectly express our brand philosophy and to forge even more connections between us and our various partners.

These connections were at the forefront from the very beginning: starting with the idea of having an extraordinary promotional gift that expresses our corporate philosophy, we worked together with our partners from the music industry to develop our "Smart connections." song.

As well as our song, a “Smart connections.” choir and a “Smart connections.” day was created during a workshop with the Fichte high school in Hagen. This has brought our different partners together.

This year, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of KOSTAL Solar Electric, we returned to our "Smart connections." song and its theme of togetherness to create a special anniversary version. Of course, we collaborated with our trusted partners from the music industry to create this version. But there was also scope for new sounds. Find out more and discover the updated lyrics of the anniversary song in the separate menu option.

"Smart connections." media

Below you can download the songs associated with the "Smart connections." project and view the videos.

It took a lot of time and effort to turn the idea into the finished video but everyone involved really enjoyed themselves and the project showed what can be achieved by a diverse and dynamic group.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding the première of our "Smart connections." song at Intersolar 2011 and numerous smart connections were made around it. Alongside the discussions and the expert information that was shared, everyone thoroughly enjoyed celebrating together.

We kicked things off with a brief interview with the singer Zeeteah, where she explained what the project means to her and encouraged the students to get involved. Discover more about this multi-talented performer in the video!

Our partners

We could not have brought this project to life without support from outstanding musicians and fantastic people, who really put their heart and soul into it. And that's exactly what we got from these wonderful partners:

  • This British singer is originally from Barbados and has been living in Cologne since 2001. She has worked on many successful projects with international performers like Robbie Williams, Tom Jones and Michael Jackson, and has recorded her own CDs. She launched her musical career at the tender age of five 
    and is currently hired by large well-known German companies for internal events and promotions. Not only did she write the special lyrics for the "Smart connections." song for us, but for two years she has also sung at our trade fair parties at Intersolar in Munich.
    To Zeeteah Massiah's homepage
  • At the age of 11, Wolf Codera was given his first clarinet and had his first music lesson. Later, he taught himself to play the saxophone and developed a real talent for it. This was followed by recordings, orchestral concerts, where he was the featured soloist, and first prize in the "Jugend jazzt" competition on the clarinet. It was only after he had to stop studying medicine due to illness that he turned to a career in music.
    The special "Smart connections." between himself and KOSTAL go back a long way. Therefore, for him, it was an obvious step not only to assist us musically but also to manage the project as a producer and let us benefit from his wealth of experience.
    To Wolf Codera's homepage
  • German guitarist Bernd Voss started his musical training at music academies in Bremen and Hamburg, before honing his skills even further in Los Angeles. 
    After his first solo album and recordings with famous performers such as Dionne Warwick, Los del Rio, Bonnie Tyler, Umberto Tozzi and N-Sync, he decided to become a session musician as part of the New Flamenco scene in southern Spain.
    To Bernd Voss's homepage
  • In response to our request, not only did he organise the initial brainstorming session for our project idea, but also expertly managed the project as it developed. But it wasn't just his organisational skills that allowed us to successfully complete all stages of the project and the project as a whole on schedule:. 
    we also very much appreciated his calm approach and the moral support he provided whenever the project got a little hectic. He played guitar when the song had its première in Munich.
    To Andreas Löbbecke's homepage

The Fichte choir

Joint project with Fichte high school

Back in 2008, we set up a joint project with Fichte high school in Hagen and made a very special smart connection. This connection thrives on joint activities, such as organising workshops, involvement in the Girls’ Day, offering students internships and expert discussions in lessons. It's very important to us to offer these young people guidance. It's a way for us to create smart connections between industry and schools, between young and old, and to give shape to our future programmes.

the choir of Fichte high school

"Smart connections." workshop

The "Smart connections." workshop organised by KOSTAL with the singer Zeeteah Massiah and the musician Wolf Codera in the spring of 2011 provided totally new smart connections for this joint project. As part of our "Smart connections." project, more than 30 pupils from all school years spent an afternoon working with the two professional musicians.

Not only did this give the pupils an insight into the musicians' daily work and allow them to demonstrate their musical talents, but they learnt how music connects people too.

 

The workshop had a very clear focus: to enjoy both the music and the process of working with others to become part of a unique project.

It was an unforgettable day for all involved, full of fun and new experiences, as illustrated by the quotes found here. And we committed the musical results of the workshop to disc: the choir can be heard accompanying Zeeteah Massiah on our "Smart connections." CD.
Homepage Fichte high school

For me, meeting so many different people and singing together without getting to know them first is a smart connection.

Ayca
year 9 pupil

The experience of working with a famous singer, the relaxed atmosphere and working with the entire team was just great – such a cool idea.

Anna
year 8 pupil

These pupils have potential, which enabled us to produce the really great results you can hear on the CD.

Wolf Codera
Producer of the "Smart connections." project

"Smart connections." music

the smart connections project album

Song lyrics

Today, tomorrow and the future
KOSTAL will give you what you need
Just say the word and we are with you
We want to help you to succeed

“Smart connections.” is our one big passion
Family and partnership standing side by side
“Smart connections.” to secure the future
With style and quality on that you can rely

Song idea

We got the idea for our song from the desire to turn our “Smart connections.” philosophy into a special give-away. Since music connects people and contains a strong emotional element, we decided to make a song and record a CD.

On it, you can hear our "Smart connections.“' company song, which expresses our philosophy perfectly. The song lyrics are about our key competitive advantages: the KOSTAL family (family), partnership, quality-offensive thinking (quality), and future programmes (future). In addition, each of these four unique selling points was represented by its very own instrumental piece.

The "Smart connections.“ song premièred at the party held at our stand at Intersolar 2011, where musicians Wolf Codera and Zeeteah Massiah presented the song to the public for the first time and really wowed our visitors.
You know the time is right to join us
We promise everything we say
It’s our family tradition
We’re here to please you come what may

“Smart connections.” global innovactions
Come get on board let's make the future bright
“Smart connections.” positive reactions
Connect the world and you will feel alright

You can count on us for having quality
We'll get it right right from the start
Let's come together – we can do this – YES WE CAN!
So easy if we play our part

“Smart connections.” global innovactions
Come get on board let's make the future bright
"Smart connections." positive reactions
Connect the world and you will feel alright – you will feel alright (3x)

“Smart connections.” global innovactions
Come get on board let's make the future bright
“Smart connections.” positive reactions
Connect the world and you will feel alright – feel alright
y o u – w i l l – f e e l – a l r i g h t
You will feel alright! (2x)

Lyrics: Zeeteah Massiah
Music: Wolf Codera

"Smart connections." anniversary song

Connecting for 10 Years

In 2016, we were delighted to celebrate our 10th birthday. Throughout this time we have established some fantastic partnerships, which have enabled us and our partners to jointly assert ourselves on the market. What better reason to celebrate our anniversary with the "Connecting for 10 Years" motto? And what's an essential element of all good celebrations? Music! So we wanted to use our "Smart connections." song and its power to connect people to bring music to our anniversary celebrations.

It was very easy for us to persuade our long-standing partner, Wolf Codera, who helped us write the original version of the "Smart connections." song, to produce an anniversary version. We wanted the song to include both familiar and new elements. So the text has been modified and we found a new musical duo to lend their voices to the song. Vanessa Ekpenyong and Tommy Reeve have given our familiar music a new lease of life.

Lyrics for the anniversary version of our song

Today, tomorrow and the future
KOSTAL will give you what you need
Just say the word and we are with you
We want to help you to succeed

“Smart connections.” is our one big passion
 Family and partnership standing side by side
“Smart connections.” to secure the future
With style and quality on that you can rely

You know the time is right to join us
We promise everything we say
 It’s our family tradition
We’re here to please you come what may

“Smart connections.” 10 years innovactions
Come get on board let's make the future bright
"Smart connections." positive reactions
Connect the world and you will feel alright – you will feel alright (3x)

“Smart connections.” 10 years innovactions
Come get on board let's make the future bright
“Smart connections.” positive reactions
Connect the world and you will feel alright – feel alright
y o u – w i l l – f e e l – a l r i g h t
Connect the world and you feel alright - alright
Connect the world - tonight


"Smart connections." day

During the "Smart connections." day on 27 June 2011, our guests from the PV and drive technology sectors visited us to discover what our "Smart connections." philosophy really means. Numerous contacts were made and one or more smart connections were taken away from the event. Some of these connections lasted more than the one day.

experience "smart connections" at the smart connections day

Get together

Our visitors were able to get to know one another and us a little better over a bite to eat and to deepen the insights they had gained at Intersolar in a relaxed atmosphere. So the stage was set and lots of smart connections guided us through the day’s programme.

Production tour

While attending a tour of our production facilities in Lüdenscheid and Hagen, our guests were able to see the smart connections of our products and our quality standards for themselves. They gained insights into our ultra-modern PCB production area, which forms the basis for all our products, right up to the finished PV module socket and the INVEOR frequency converter.

Live concert

As a fitting conclusion to the day, everyone went to the Colosseum in Essen for dinner and to hear WOLF CODERA’s SESSION POSSIBLE, including a live performance of our "Smart connections." song. The special guest was the "Smart connections." choir from Fichte high school in Hagen.