Sometimes the best ideas are born in the most unexpected moments. For Cordeo, that moment came in the late 1990s on a German highway.
During a business trip, colleagues Cyril Reijnen and Willem Stalknecht made a classic mistake: they filled a diesel car with gasoline. The result? Stranded on the side of the highway, a long wait for roadside assistance, and eventually schnitzel and beer in a roadside restaurant.
And it was right there, in that unplanned pause, that the idea was born: an idea that would later grow into the Cordeo Brand Portal.
With his background in communication, Cyril faced the same frustration almost daily: the chaos surrounding brand materials in large organisations. No version control, files scattered everywhere, and colleagues constantly searching for the right logo or text.
Willem, a true technical specialist, recognised the problem immediately. For him, it was all about inefficiency: teams talking past each other, time being lost, and projects stalling as a result.
Until Cyril asked one simple question:
“What if there was one central place where everything related to a brand could come together?”
Willem immediately saw the technical possibilities and the potential to truly do things differently.
More than twenty years later, we still see many organisations facing the same challenges:
The result: frustration, delays, and a brand story that loses its impact.
What began as a roadside blunder led, in 2001, to the first version of the Cordeo Brand Portal, originally called XLdoc. A central platform enabling organisations to keep their brand consistent, collaborate more efficiently, and save time and costs.
Today, countless organisations use the Cordeo Brand Portal as a trusted foundation to manage and strengthen their brand.
And it all started with one moment of disruption: both literal and figurative.
Want to know more about the Cordeo Brand Portal?