In 2020, Daniel Zinner and Olaf Mehlhose started recording a podcast, Berliner Zinner, from their corner of Berlin – their “Kiez”.
Officially, the German word Kiez refers to a neighbourhood or district within a city. But for Berliners, it means much more than that. It’s not just a geographical area. A Kiez is a community, often with its own character and culture. It’s where people really know each other. Where cultures mix, ideas spark and stories travel by word of mouth.
During those early podcasting days, Daniel and Olaf weren’t just having conversations with people. They were making real connections with artists, entrepreneurs, creatives and thinkers from their local scene. And what started as a hobby quickly turned into something bigger.
What if the same feeling of community and creativity could power something more?
That question became the foundation of Kiez Digital.
It started with a conversation
Daniel and Olaf didn’t intentionally set out to start an agency. They were simply trying to connect with others during a time when the world felt incredibly disconnected.
But as the podcast grew, they noticed a pattern in many of their interviewees. These people were highly intelligent, highly creative and highly successful entrepreneurs, but they struggled to communicate their own stories in a clear and impactful way.
Their messages were getting lost in translation — sometimes literally. They lacked any real structure, strategy or support in their communications and they often didn’t have the time or the expertise to bridge that gap on their own.
That’s where Daniel and Olaf saw their opportunity. They could help make digital communication feel human again.
Kiez Digital was founded to bring creativity and clarity to companies of all sizes — from neighbourhood start-ups to international teams managing global change.
And at its heart? People.
The people behind the business. The people navigating relocation, recruitment and remote work. The people trying to build something that matters — across borders, languages and time zones.
A neighbourhood spirit with a global view
The name Kiez Digital says it all.
Kiez is rooted in the local. In face-to-face conversations, shared experiences, and connections.
Digital represents the tools and reach of the modern world – borderless, scalable, data-driven.
Together, it’s a reflection of how we work: At home in the neighbourhood but always with a view on the world.
That’s also how we grew — one client at a time. Small local businesses came first. But soon, international HR teams, global mobility professionals, and growing companies with cross-border teams started reaching out.
They weren’t just looking for a service provider or a simple transactional exchange. They were looking for true partners who could speak their language, understand their structure and help them grow.
We built Kiez Digital on this foundation.
What makes Kiez Digital different
Plenty of agencies “do” digital communications. But at Kiez Digital, we deliberately focus on building clear and connected sustainable brand growth that lasts beyond a single campaign.
Here’s how:
We balance creativity with structure
We combine creative thinking with a structured and strategic approach that’s designed to deliver real results.
We enable growth
Whether you’re entering a new market, expanding across regions or trying to unify your internal communications, we help you scale with purpose using systems that make sense for your team, not just the algorithm.
We keep people at the core
Communication only works when it connects. That’s why our team works across languages, cultures and contexts — always with empathy, always with the goal of helping people feel understood, not just informed.
We are not a “one-and-done” agency. We don’t chase trends. We build what works for your audience, your goals and your reality. And we build it with you, not for you.
Why international teams come to us
Working in global mobility or international teams comes with its own set of challenges. You’re managing people across borders. Policies shift. Cultures collide. Clarity often gets lost in translation – literally and metaphorically.
But good communication? That’s what holds it all together.
We’ve seen firsthand how hard it can be to tell a consistent story in a company that operates across time zones. How quickly internal updates or external messages become cluttered, unclear, or disconnected.
That’s where Kiez Digital comes in.
We help international and global mobility teams:
- Develop a clear content strategy
- Build multilingual messaging that resonates
- Structure their communication for different platforms and audiences
- Stay consistent, even when the business moves fast
Our clients often come to us overwhelmed. But we make sure they leave with clarity and a solid plan.
Growth, but make it human
At Kiez Digital, we don’t believe in growth for growth’s sake. We believe in growth that’s human.
That might mean helping a local founder build a content system that works while they grow their team or guiding a global HR department through an internal rebrand, with messaging that feels aligned across continents.
We’ve supported international teams who needed to reach stakeholders in five languages – without losing their tone of voice. We’ve helped time-strapped leaders go from chaos to clarity with strategic content calendars and processes.
And most importantly, we never lose sight of the people behind the message.
From Kiez to the world: What’s next?
We started Kiez Digital because we saw a gap: great people doing great work but struggling to tell their story.
Today, our mission is clear: We help you close that gap with messaging that’s sharp, clear and ready for a global stage. We help you write your success story in the digital age.
Our team is growing and we have writers, strategists and communicators based all over Europe and beyond. We speak German, English, Spanish, Ukrainian and Polish, and we’re also fluent in “cross-border business”.
What drives us forward?
- Staying curious
- Thinking ahead
- Connecting people and ideas that belong together
We don’t just make content.
We shape communication that moves with your business.
We don’t just make content that lands once. We help you build communication systems that work now and evolve with you.
Your story, told right
Whether you’re running a team in Berlin, building a business across borders, or leading talent in a fast-growing company, you’ve got a story to tell.
We’d love to help you tell it.
Explore our services in more detail or send us a message to see how our Kiez Digital can support your team.