Everyone knows his brand, few his name: Dr. Gerhard Büchtemann. But that today we have good tile adhesive, Putty and grout can be bought at any hardware store, we have that "Mr. Lugato” to thank,
Destiny sometimes takes a winding path. A young man is growing up in Hamburg, undergoes humanistic training, passionate about music and the fine arts, studies medicine and is successful as a doctor. So far a coherent biography, but who would guess, that this man of all people paved the way for modern construction chemistry, should become the pioneer of do-it-yourself in Germany? The development probably surprised him the most. Dr. Gerhard Büchtemann is a silent star. One who doesn't make a fuss about his personality, about which no newspaper archives have been filled. And yet there is hardly a brand, no product, that is so closely associated with a single person, like Lugato and Dr. Büchtemann.
The man, of us products (and product names!) like "Up + sits", “Black Blocker” or “New On Old!“ has bestowed, First of all, there are two characteristics: His always perfect clothes and his bright blue eyes. His charisma has an almost magical effect. if dr. Büchtemann enters a room – be it a conference room in the Hamburg headquarters, be it the Lugato production in Barsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein – the same phenomenon always occurs: The conversation falls silent, eyes are on him. No question, the man has leadership qualities. "I'm a hideous perfectionist", said is, only to relativize himself in the same breath: “The success of Lugato would be unthinkable without my colleagues!“
220 Employees work in the Hamburg headquarters, he knows them all by name. The corporate culture and success have welded them together. Layoffs and staff turnover are almost unknown at Lugato. Lugato is much older, than the modern and dynamic appearance of the products in the hardware store would suggest. 1919 becomes the company (Nobody knows exactly today, how the Italian name came about.) by Paul Büchtemann, the father dr. Gerhard Büchtemanns, founded. construction chemistry, aggregates, finishings – something like alchemy for bricklayers – is successfully sold to craftsmen via wholesalers. When the founding father died in the mid-1950s and the managing director who took over fell ill, overnight the sole responsibility lies with the son. He is currently working as an assistant doctor in Munich at the operating table. But Dr. Büchtemann is not, who pinches. He grittes his teeth, returns to Hamburg and shoulders the company.
The enfant terrible of the building materials trade developed from the reluctant businessman in a very short time. “Lugato is different!' is his creed, and “We write on it, what's inside!' Büchtemann wants, that everyone can recognize immediately, what's in his bags and cans: Elaborate packaging, snappy product names, a highly detailed application description, that is his recipe for success.
Büchtemann leaves the beaten path: The chief stage designer of the State Opera builds Lugato's exhibition stand, a student of Carl Orff composed the background music.
Modern "serious" music at the exhibition stand? Many old business partners can, don't want to follow him. The traditional building materials trade is dumbfounded. "Such a man will never be a real Hanseatic businessman," they say. He doesn't want to be either. Büchtemann invents his market himself. Even with the photos for the instructions ("Just do it yourself.") the boss himself presses the trigger. The customers love him, and with the ever-growing hardware stores, Lugato, hat Dr. Büchtemann found his stage, the construction boom of the 1970s did the rest. Shortly afterwards, business magazines reported on the meteoric rise of the Lugato brand.
Today Lugato is a fixed star in the German hardware stores and the career of Dr. Büchtemann material for marketing seminars. How can he motivate himself anew every morning?? “Things have been going well for Lugato. But there is always something to do better!" Why, the boss asked himself a few months ago, DIY stores actually sell products and not solutions to problems? “Why do customers have to do a scavenger hunt through the market, to gather all the products for your task?“ The result of the reflections: Lugato's new shelf concept. Now stands together in the hardware store, which also belongs together. Typical Dr. Büchtemann.