Swisscontent and Forward Advisors launch communications offensive for Hugo Boss

With the arrival of the new CEO, Daniel Grieder, in June 2021, a new era has begun for the MDAX company Hugo Boss from Metzingen. The agency group Forward Advisors/ Swisscontent worked with Grieder and the fashion company's communications and strategy team to prepare a comprehensive new corporate strategy called "Claim 5" for communications and spread it across suitable channels. The project manager at Hugo Boss was Carolin Westermann, Head of Global Corporate Communications. It was of central importance that every employee knows, understands and, in particular, lives the strategy. This also required a new type of communication to help shape the new corporate culture right from the start. For this purpose, the consulting agency Forward Advisors developed an overarching and cross-channel communication strategy with the main goal of communicating the new corporate strategy in a catchy and sustainable way. The communications and marketing agency Swisscontent implemented the communications measures and tools developed by Forward Advisors. The implementation was carried out through many channels, some of which were new and innovative. In doing so, the agency group, in close cooperation with those responsible at Hugo Boss, broke completely new ground and set an international benchmark - in the internal introduction and positioning of the CEO as well as in internal communications in general.

The kickoff: A global, virtual employee event

In order to present himself, his ideas, and future core values for Hugo Boss, an unusual type of presentation combined with an inspiring performance was important to CEO Grieder. Under the overarching motto "Timing, Mindset, Energy," the new strategy was staged with a stage performance. This was streamed globally from Metzingen to around 14,000 employees. Dynamic films with multimedia elements and animations, fast-paced sequences, statements by famous personalities and stirring music guided the audience through the speech. Transporting emotions and energy played just as important a role as the content itself. "The goal was to position the new CEO authentically and clearly when he took office," explains Daniel Kaczynski, Senior Partner of Forward Advisors and CEO and Chairman of the Board of Swisscontent. "The response was phenomenal".

Strategy videos and a CEO app

In a further phase, a strategy video was developed based on the storyline of the virtual employee event. Grieder, the Executive Board in general, and managers and departments worldwide used this video for internal and external presentations. In less than ten minutes, the CEO sums up the new corporate strategy and culture.

Proximity, exchange, informal interaction, trust and transparency within the company are central to Hugo Boss; they are among the most important elements of the new culture. To promote and sustainably transform this, the CEO app "My Hugo Boss" was also developed and implemented - in terms of content, visuals and technology. This enables Grieder to communicate with employees regardless of time and place. Not only stories and impressions from everyday business are shared. Under the "Ask me anything" label, employees also have the option of liking and commenting on posts, taking part in surveys, and uploading pictures and videos to the social wall.

The culture in focus

Every sustainable change requires an initial analysis of the starting position and the circumstances. It was therefore important to understand the prevailing culture in the company right at the beginning in order to derive specific desired developments for the future. To this end, Forward Advisors developed a "Cultural Change Program" in parallel with the introduction of the communications strategy. Based on this, the agency formulated recommendations for the future and conducted workshops with the executives.

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Forward Advisors stand for strategic, digital and data-based Kommunicationsation. The Swiss agency advises companiesnehmer, C-Levels and Boards of Directors as well as their companies in solving their communication challenges. Youre Work is based on many years of experience as a strategic acting Untentrepreneurs as well as digitally minded and well-networked Kommunication profis. Swisscontent is one of the leading Swiss agencies in the Areas Kommunication and marketing. The agency advises and untSupports their customers from strategy development through Konception to the cross-media orchestrated implementation of the defined Massnahmen and distribution.