{"id":1380,"date":"2026-03-25T14:26:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martin.chapter-studios.de\/2026\/03\/25\/my-journey-from-teaching-to-storytelling\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:17:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:17:57","slug":"my-journey-from-teaching-to-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martingebhardt.com\/en\/2026\/03\/25\/my-journey-from-teaching-to-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"My Journey: From Teaching to Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Intro<\/h2>\n\n<p>If I look at my professional career, my path has not been a straight line. From teaching to History to Marketing \u2013 from university to adidas. My career has been a collection of moments, people, stories and cultures. And I have taken my steps in a conscious manner, listening to myself when deciding on my next steps. These different experiences have defined who I am and have shaped my way of working and how I look at work. They have also helped me grow as a professional and as a person.     <\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With 20 years of experience across Education, History, and Global Marketing, I help people and brands turn their &#8220;hidden&#8221; DNA into strategic impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Academic Core: Teaching, PhD in Museum &amp; Brand Communication; 6 years as a university lecturer. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The adidas Era: 13 years at the global HQ\u2014from leading the brand\u2019s 70th-anniversary program to managing global campaigns for Running and Specialist Sports categories. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Mission: I combine the analytical eye of a historian with the strategic edge of a marketing leader to build narratives that are authentic, structured, and impossible to forget. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Roots: Upper Franconia to the British Museum <\/h2>\n\n<p>It all started in Wunsiedel, a small town in Upper Franconia I still proudly call home. After school, I studied English and History to become a teacher in Erlangen. During my studies, I balanced academic life with jobs in marketing (Bayern 3), museums, and even learning Italian out of a pure love for the dolce vita. A transformative year teaching German in Somerset ignited my lifelong connection to British culture. This blend of love for country and heritage eventually led to my PhD on Museum and Brand Communication, involving research at the British Museum and looking how museums communicate with their audiences. My first job for six years was teaching English, British Culture and Business English at the Language Centre at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, where I also gave workshops on teaching and communication.      <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Corporate Era: 13 Years at adidas<\/h2>\n\n<p>In 2012, I joined adidas, where I spent over a decade working in the archive and moving into Brand Marketing roles, translating heritage into campaign activation work: <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>History Management: Seven years at the adidasArchive, leading communications and marketing and the brand\u2019s 70th-anniversary programme.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Global Brand Marketing Running: Working on 7 key franchises and high-energy collaborations (including LEGO and James Bond) within the Running comms team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Europe Brand Comms &amp; Activation Specialist Sports: Leading Comms and Activation and working on 15+ sports, including Tennis, Rugby, Indoor, Cycling and bridging global vision with local market reality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The New Chapter: Turning curiosity into strategy and ideas into impact.<\/h2>\n\n<p>After 20 years of experiences in three distinct worlds\u2014Education, History, and Marketing\u2014I decided to start my own business, focused on Marketing, Storytelling and Workshops. Today, I use my experience as a teacher and marketing manager to help people and brands build a narrative that isn&#8217;t just seen, but remembered. <\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If I look at my professional career, my path has not been a straight line. From teaching to History to Marketing \u2013 from university to adidas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,53,54,55,56,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-leadership","category-learnings","category-marketing","category-storytelling","category-workshops"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My Journey: From Teaching to Storytelling - Martin Gebhardt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.martingebhardt.com\/en\/2026\/03\/25\/my-journey-from-teaching-to-storytelling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Journey: From Teaching to Storytelling - Martin Gebhardt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If I look at my professional career, my path has not been a straight line. 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