CASE STUDY · SAP & SAP.iO · BY MEIRAJ AHMED
Connecting enterprise innovation with clearer communication
How I connected brand strategy, creative direction, entrepreneurial education and programme delivery across SAP’s employee and startup audiences.
Innovation programmes bring together people with very different starting points. Employees may be exploring an idea for the first time. Founders may be looking for a route into an enterprise ecosystem. Programme leaders need to explain opportunities, coordinate activities and keep participants moving forward.
My work with SAP and SAP.iO connected those needs. As a Project Consultant in Berlin, I worked across development, content and creative responsibilities, combining research and brand development with educational resources, thought-leadership publications and programme support.
The engagement at a glance
Organisation: SAP and SAP.iO
Role: Project Consultant — Development, Content and Creative
Location: Berlin, supporting global activities
Internal focus: Corporate innovation, entrepreneurial education and venture building
External focus: SAP.iO brand communication, founder materials and field marketing
Capabilities: Brand strategy, research, creative direction, content design, multimedia and programme coordination
01 / THE CHALLENGE
One innovation ecosystem. Different communication needs.
Internally, corporate innovation programmes needed materials that helped employees understand entrepreneurial concepts and take part in venture-building activities. The work had to connect the ambition of innovation with the practical questions people encounter as they develop an idea.
Externally, SAP.iO communicated with founders, scaleups and prospective partners. That required a distinctive brand presence and a clear explanation of opportunities within the SAP ecosystem. A founder assessing a programme needs different information from an employee joining a learning workshop.
The challenge was to make those differences useful to the communication strategy. Reports, learning resources, presentations and event experiences each needed a specific purpose while contributing to a coherent overall brand experience.
02 / MY ROLE
Connecting strategic direction with practical delivery
My responsibilities spanned the development and execution of communications. I conducted market research and competitive benchmarking to inform brand development, led content marketing and creative direction for SAP.iO Foundry activities, and developed materials for employees, founders and partners.
Alongside the creative work, I managed the content pipeline and supported events, workshops and panel discussions. This gave me a connected view of how the materials would be used: a report could support an industry event, a video could introduce a learning concept, and a playbook could help a programme team explain the next step.
Bringing those responsibilities together helped me connect strategic intent with the details of production. The work needed to be clear in its message, appropriate to its audience and ready for the programme or channel in which it would appear.
03 / BRAND STRATEGY
Giving SAP.iO’s refreshed brand a practical expression
Research and competitive benchmarking formed part of my contribution to SAP.iO’s brand development. The task involved understanding the investment and technology landscape, identifying communication opportunities and using that context to inform narrative and creative decisions.
A brand operating within an enterprise startup ecosystem needs to establish credibility while helping audiences understand its relevance. My work connected brand narrative, marketing communication and creative development across the materials used to represent SAP.iO.
Application mattered as much as direction. A refreshed identity had to work in reports, presentations, programme communications and event environments. Collaborator Max Kahn later described my contribution as “instrumental in the successful launch of our brand refresh.” That is a specific, supported outcome of the engagement.
04 / EMPLOYEE EDUCATION
Making the venture-building journey easier to understand
The internal assignment focused on corporate innovation and intrapreneurship: developing entrepreneurial ideas within an established organisation. I created educational resources, entrepreneurial content and media to support the teams delivering these programmes.
Learning materials, playbooks and videos provided different ways to explain concepts. Each required a clear sequence of information, an understandable central idea and an appropriate level of detail. Creative direction helped shape that experience through content structure, visual hierarchy and multimedia.
My project records describe an intended global employee audience of approximately 120,000 people. That figure describes the scope of the communications, rather than measured participation or engagement. The contribution I can describe directly is the development of resources and programme communications intended to support that audience.











