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sovereign cloud.
but secure.

A market segment that didn’t exist yet. Infrastructure already in place. And a claim the parent company tried to stop — that today sits in their best practice archive.

The market didn’t yet know what it needed.

Early 2023: NIS2, DORA, critical infrastructure — regulatory pressure is mounting, but the right offering is missing from the market. Microsoft and AWS cannot structurally guarantee data sovereignty in the sense of European compliance. The need is real. The gap is open.

The realization: our own solutions already largely match what is now called sovereign cloud. Managed services are delivered exclusively by EU-based employees from within the EU. Data centers in Berlin and Frankfurt. The substance is there — what’s missing is the positioning, the narrative, the strategy.

Market gap. Positioning. Claim. PR. Rollout.

Together with the Director Sovereign Cloud Services — and in close alignment with sales, operations and group headquarters — the entire marketing foundation is developed. Target audiences defined: CIO, CISO, procurement. Buying motives analyzed. Differentiation from hyperscalers sharpened.

The result of the positioning work: a claim that condenses the topic into a single sentence.

“Sovereign cloud — but secure.” works on multiple levels: concrete promise, clear stance, light tone. It runs on LinkedIn, at events, in internal communications. Group headquarters tries to stop it. It stays. Today it sits in the group-wide best practice archive.

In parallel: building an active PR strategy for DACH with an external communications agency — actively managed, with a small budget. The result: 8 editorial articles on sovereign cloud in relevant DACH media. Earned media, not paid reach — in a market where the topic was just emerging. This activity was also eventually prohibited by the group. The 8 articles were already placed.

From autumn 2023: sales is brought in. Messaging frameworks, conversation guides, sales materials — all tailored by target audience for CIO, CISO and procurement. The offering is sales-ready before the infrastructure is live.

15 months. From blank page to market success.

• March 2023

  Market gap identified. Start.

  Market analysis. Own strengths reassessed. Positioning work begins in a small core team.
• Spring – Summer 2023

  Claim. PR. Resonance. First group resistance.

  “Sovereign cloud — but secure.” developed and activated. PR agency brought in, actively managed. 8 editorial articles placed in DACH media. Strong LinkedIn resonance. Group headquarters tries to stop claim and independent PR — both continue until placement is complete.
• Autumn 2023

  Sales brought in. GTM running.

  Sales enablement fully built. Messaging frameworks for all target audiences. Channel strategy, events, client communication active.
• June 2024

  Go-live. First enterprise client. Day 1.

  Infrastructure in Berlin and Frankfurt live. Immediately: enterprise client with >1m€ ARR. Existing clients migrate immediately. Profitable from day one.
• After launch

  Best practice.

  The central brand management — which originally tried to stop the claim and PR work — now leads the claim as best practice. Former colleagues still greet with it today.

What counts.

What remains.

The strongest GTM projects don’t come from a briefing. They emerge when someone sees a market opportunity earlier than others — and takes responsibility for developing it.

8 editorial articles with a small budget, a claim that goes viral, a group that first tries to stop both and later presents them as best practice — that’s not luck. That’s consistent strategic work, active agency management and the willingness to stand behind uncomfortable decisions.