Monsters Of Content Marketing
Anja Himmelsbach, Katja Bott and their Corona challenges
This is what our second podcast special from the Communication Congress in Berlin is about
The second double pack of our Monsters of Content Marketing from the Berlin Communication Congress: Anja Himmelsbach from the Helios Kliniken and Katja Bott from Daimler were particularly challenged by Corona. For one, the newly created newsroom passed the acid test, the other experienced a veritable firework of digitization.
MoCM with Anja Himmelsbach, Head of Corporate Communications, Helios Kliniken
Anja and her team had just started the new newsroom of the clinics in Berlin-Buch when the pandemic hit them. Without the first experiences "we would have been drowned in the press inquiries," says Anja Himmelsbach in the podcast. By contrast, the joint newsroom with around 30 colleagues from 19 clinics throughout Germany not only served the media in the best possible way, but also inquiries from unsettled citizens.
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The digital channels are our gateway to people's interests.
Due to Corona, of course, one had “a completely different perception of our issues”.
The communicator sees the fact that she initiated the project away from the company headquarters in Berlin-Mitte as an advantage. In Buch, the northernmost part of the district of Pankow and thus of Berlin, she gets “directly played back whether you are doing a good job. “If people don't greet me, I should think about it again”. By working at the grassroots level, she also knows “very precisely which topics people deal with”.
What doesn't make coordination in the newsroom any easier: All Helios clinics have their own channels. Team spirit is all the more important, and Anja emphasizes: “There isn't a sheet of paper between us.” The Helios content ranges from sober information to original formats, which are best described with “educational entertainment”. The head of the Helios clinics in Schwerin reinterpreted the Nena hit on YouTube for the weekend and sang "99 killer viruses" in the video.
In the new episode #MoCM, Anja reveals how she deals with critics internally, what she thinks of communication from other hospitals and how she met Christian Drosten.
MoCM with Katja Bott, Head of Global Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler
Katja Bott, who heads global communications at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Trucks, had to face a slightly different corona challenge. What if a pandemic leads to lockdown shortly before an important car show? Normally Mercedes would have presented the E-Class at the Geneva Motor Show in March, then the event was canceled. "Then you sit there and have a full five days to think about what to do instead," Katja looks back. Instead of going to Switzerland, I went to a studio in Stuttgart. The E-Class was presented in a live stream and the “Meet Mercedes Digital” TV format was launched. Of course, people have been thinking about new digital formats for some time, but Corona has given a huge boost. "Meet Mercedes Digital" produced eleven programs between May and August alone.
The world premiere of the new S-Class on September 2nd was primarily a digital event. Instead of 500 to 600 journalists – as common in the past – only 30 were allowed. The crowd followed the presentation on live stream. But can a desirable product like the flagship S-Class be digitally staged?
„Usually there is smoke, fog, fireworks and big emotions to create the big bang. Can you digitize this 1:1? No, you can't. A little something falls by the wayside.“
But they chose a good hybrid approach, didn't put everything in one moment, but pursued a 360-degree approach.
Which paths Mercedes is taking with influencers, what the “new normal” looks like for them and how important press work will be in the future, Katja tells us in the concluding conversation from the communications congress in Berlin.
Listen now
Our Monsters of Content Marketing podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud and YouTube. Please note that the podcast is in German.
