DonnersTALK 2025: Markets, brands, people – 360° internationalization

On October 23, 2025, it was once again time to join with our customers and partners, and delve deep into a topic that moves us all at the Leinhäuser DonnersTALK. Since 2022, each DonnersTALK has been dedicated to a focus topic, which we illuminate from different perspectives in inspiring lectures and personal exchanges – with plenty of room for in-depth discussions and new ideas. Following sessions in which we tackled artificial intelligence and sustainability, this time the focus was on a particularly relevant topic: Internationalization.

With his keynote speech on “How to reach international target groups – not just their heads, but also their hearts”, the CEO of Qubs Toys, Yusuf Beyaz, set the tone for a day full of inspiring insights, concrete strategies and personal experiences right at the start of the event. He stressed that “internationalization succeeds when everyone feels understood.” This key message was at the heart of the entire DonnersTALK.

Yusuf Beyaz: “Think global – internationalization right from the start”

CEO QUBS Toys

“I have internationalized myself”. Following this opening statement, Yusuf Beyaz took our guests on an exciting journey through the stages of his international career in the toy industry – including at the LEGO Group. From Germany to Denmark, then to the USA, and from there to China and on to England. First and foremost, he had to understand each country from a cultural perspective in order to succeed in his position as a manager. He soon found his efficient, very German way of communicating insufficient in the USA, for example. He learned that communication needs motivation; praise leads to solutions. But that isn’t the case in China. It’s a different world once again. He learned how to ensure that everyone saves face even in sensitive moments and how important cultural subtleties are for the course of negotiations.

“What can I do to make sure that the people I want to reach feel understood?” is the key question for him in his internationalization as a person, manager and CEO of the start-up QUBS Toys. In addition to the question of efficiency, “How do I get my product to ten countries?” is just as important as the question of effectiveness: “How do people in 10 countries feel understood?”.

His message: Understand people. Internationalization is not achieved when everyone understands you – but when everyone feels understood. Specifically, understanding what the people you want to reach with a product really want – what their needs, expectations and pain points are – is the strategic anchor for product development and marketing. 

Learn more about Yusuf Beyaz here

Udo Leinhäuser: “Google was yesterday – How do I optimize my website for ChatGPT etc.?”

Managing Director iSEO.works

The next keynote speech dealt with a completely different kind of understanding. International search engine optimization expert Udo Leinhäuser clearly illustrated how digital searching has changed thanks to Large Language Models LLMs, AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. That’s because traditional search engine optimization (SEO) has reached the next level: GEO, Generative Engine Optimization, in other words the optimization of texts for AI search systems.  

With a clear focus on what really counts for companies, he succeeded in leading the audience out of the “valley of disillusionment” toward a pragmatic approach. Even though the click-through rate (CTR), i.e. the proportion of users who click on a search result, fell by an almost landslide 34.5 % last year, transactions such as completing a purchase or generating leads still take place via the website. 

In order to remain visible in the AI search systems, he presented a GEO playbook for optimizing content for the likes of ChatGPT. His recommendation is that, even more so than with SEO, content has to be structured, unique, present everywhere and consistent; only then will it be correctly understood by AI search systems, cited in responses and classified as a reliable source. This is the only way for brands to remain visible and relevant in the world of generative searching.

His message: Understand GEO. AI search engines are still search engines. SEO remains relevant and is enhanced by GEO. To remain visible, you need to take the right measures, carry out tests and keep at it. 

Learn more about Udo Leinhäuser here

Real-Talk: “Medium-sized business meets corporate group: Culture Clash or MarCom Boost?”

In our Real-Talk, Corinna Clauß and Christine Lemberger spoke with our guest Markus Baron von Holtey, Head of MarCom at SBC, about the challenges of integrating SBC into the global Honeywell Group – and how he manages to work efficiently with teams around the globe across multiple time zones. When asked if this was a “Culture Clash or MarCom Boost?”, his answer was clear: It’s both.

The culture clash is particularly evident in the processes, which he found completely overwhelming, especially in the early days. Everything is bundled in the Group. This often limits your own agility. Even small communication measures are complex. They are carried out via a clearly defined ticket system and with the tools prescribed by the Group. Working with teams from completely different cultures was also a real challenge, especially at the beginning. This even applies in critical situations, such as when the entire Finance Department in India is unavailable for a whole week during the Festival of Lights. “In situations like this, you have to understand the culture, otherwise you won’t get anywhere,” says Baron von Holtey.

He sees the MarCom boost primarily in the Group’s financial strength, which has gotten him and his company through the difficult times of the pandemic. He also considers working with the best tools on the market to be a clear advantage. His tip is to recognize opportunities and make the most of them. To this end, he has built up his own network within the Group – through cultural understanding. “Come across as friendly. Because it is always a “we” issue. There’s always a person you have to connect with.”

His message: Understand the people behind the processes. In order to drive your own projects forward, it is essential to understand the people in the different countries, their culture and the resulting processes. 

Learn more about Markus Baron von Holtey here

 

Ziad Chama: “Translation and adaptation – AI does all that now!”

Ziad Chama’s talk on the current state of AI in translation brought this year’s DonnersTALK full circle. The internationally experienced senior business consultant used numerous practical examples to show how rapidly AI-supported translation technologies are developing – and where their limitations are still clearly noticeable.

Short sequences or individual terms that are misinterpreted even by modern NMT (Neural Machine Translation) systems remain treacherous; without context, your website’s “dashboard” could easily be translated as “Armaturenbrett” – the German word for a car’s instrument panel. These hallucinations, i.e. incorrect or heavily distorted translation results, are still a problem. In this context, he warns of the risks of AI as a black box: “AI delivers impressive results – but whether right or wrong, we don’t know how it comes up with them.” The handling of personal data and possible copyright infringements also remains critical. The technology also reaches its limits with low-resource languages: There is simply not enough data for translations into Icelandic, for example.

However, the biggest shortcoming is – still – the terminology. Integrated tools such as ChatGPT producing their own interpretations continues to distort the core of the statements. One solution is to give the AI less room for interpretation through precise prompting. Another is to further develop AI systems on an ongoing basis. Initial application scenarios show that the future has already started here, with time-consuming proofreading, for example: “AI can do that really well”. The same goes for semantic checks. But what is still important is that “AI makes suggestions, humans make decisions”. Because even the best AI cannot function without humans. Humans steer the process using targeted prompting, and humans control the results. It is precisely this ‘human in the loop’ approach that makes the decisive difference in quality. Or as Heike Leinhäuser, the host of the DonnersTALK events, aptly remarks: the ‘human in control’.

His message: Understand technology. Keep a close eye on the further development of AI, even in previously critical areas such as the integration of terminology into AI tools, and use it for time-wasting tasks such as QA checks. After all, AI can only realize its full potential if it is integrated into workflows – right up to the end.

Learn more about Ziad Chama here

How will the journey of internationalization continue? And how could an AI-based one-fits-all solution help us achieve this? At the end of our event, we created some visions of the future in a direct exchange with our guests. Then we moved on to the atmospheric finale with snacks, drinks and, of course, music from DJ Wolfram Reichel. After all, Leinhäuser is always about working together with people.