My motto at that time was: “Branding starts at home, so does Social Media.” I put the focus of GETRAG’s internal communication on transparency, honesty, and emotional connection with the brand. Up until that point, the company had been trying to give as little information as possible to its employees. That changed radically with the new communication strategy.
One of my first actions was to push through the abolition of a company regulation forbidding employees the use of social media. Instead, employees were encouraged to speak about their experiences at work and share their opinion about the company and its products. Internal communication activities were globally aligned to ensure everyone received the same information, through all-hands meetings, management newsletters, and regular updates. All of this went hand in hand with a global bottom-up creation and roll-out of corporate values as the basis for collaboration.
For me it was clear: the best and most authentic ambassadors for the brand were not influencers, fans, or journalists. They were the employees themselves. To truly reach all of them, including the many without computer access in production locations, we created the interactive employee magazine “SHIFT”, distributed four times per year in seven languages.
With this new approach of putting employees at the centre of communications, “GETRAG City, the Home of Transmissions” was born. Not only as the slogan for the IAA (Frankfurt Motor Show) 2013, but as a connecting branding, marketing, and communications platform that would invite all stakeholders to visit and take part.
Long before the Metaverse was even a concept, the idea was to create a true virtual home made out of transmission parts for the global company and its 14,000 employees, a home they could truly identify with. One that merged the physical with the virtual world and made the daily work experience more fun and easier to navigate. Whether reading the news on the GETRAG Time Square, booking business trips at the travel agency, having a chat with the CEO in his office, meeting international colleagues at the coffee machine, or exploring the latest product innovations in the lab. GETRAG City triggered creativity and participation from employees worldwide, building their home together.