GETRAG was one of the first companies in Germany to be directly affected by the Chrysler bankruptcy in 2007/08, following order cancellations from major OEM customers. It was the beginning of the worldwide economic and financial crisis. GETRAG came close to bankruptcy, prevented only by state subventions and extended bank credit lines.
The PR strategy up until that point was “no comment”, which left wide open space for speculation and gave other stakeholders, the unions, the government, the customers, control over the narrative. The press tonality about GETRAG in 2008 was deeply negative, causing panic among employees and their families.
That was when I was appointed to take over the coordination of PR activities and lead the company out of a reputational crisis.
My approach was simple: replace hiding with full transparency. I approached press representatives with respect, understood their needs as journalists, and focused on building genuine trust. I organised regular off-the-record meetings with members of the management board, informal press breakfasts, and inspiring test drive events, creating a comfortable, warm atmosphere to connect, exchange, and share the latest developments, background information, and numbers.
Within a single year, the international press tonality shifted from negative to consistently positive. From that moment on, GETRAG maintained a welcoming open-door policy for journalists, locally, nationally, and internationally. It was highly valued by all of them.