Mannheim, June 14, 2022

With its MWM brand campaign, Caterpillar Energy Solutions GmbH is one of six nominated finalists in the “Internal Communication” category. The companies shortlisted for the final were announced by this year’s jury of the German Award for Business Communication (Deutscher Preis für Wirtschaftskommunikation – DPWK) on May 18, 2022. The upcoming award ceremony with the nominated finalists will take place in June.

German Award for Business Communication 2022

Even in the tradition-rich German engineering industry, the 150th anniversary of MWM was a remarkable occasion. The 150th anniversary provided a fine opportunity to highlight the company’s specific capabilities and services and to draw the target groups’ attention to Caterpillar Energy Solutions and the MWM brand by means of systematic internal and external communication measures. According to Frank Fuhrman and Aljoscha Kertesz, who were responsible for the campaign and have played a key role in shaping it, the objective was to utilize the outstanding potential offered by the corporate history in the company’s communication, especially at the emotional level. Under the mission statement “150 Years of Continuous Innovation”, the perspective thus included both the past and the future.

From the Horseless Carriage to the Powerful MWM Gas Engines

When automobile pioneer and inventor Karl Friedrich (Carl) Benz founded his “Mechanical Workshop” in Mannheim, Germany, it was an entrepreneurial adventure that led him and his business partner and spouse Bertha Benz on a path of innovation and change.

2021 marked the 150th anniversary of the company’s foundation. In 1871, Carl Benz had set out on his quest for a “horseless carriage”. In 1886, he registered a patent for the automobile (imperial patent 37435). His epoch-making invention triggered the dawn of the age of transportation—a milestone comparable to today’s mobility and energy transition.

Now, 150 years after the company’s foundation, the spirit of innovation is still alive and well on the premises on Carl-Benz-Strasse in Mannheim. Around the globe, MWM stands for highly efficient gas engines and eco-friendly combined heat and power (CHP) plants for distributed energy generation. Caterpillar is proud to have the MWM brand as part of its group portfolio and greatly desired to celebrate this anniversary with the staff, the company, and the people who are committed to the MWM brand.

Cross-Channel Digital and Analog Communication Strategy

“The aim of our anniversary campaign was to align the touchpoints of all communication measures with our internal and external stakeholders and target groups along the entire customer journey”, says Frank Fuhrmann, Manager PR & Online Marketing at Caterpillar Energy Solutions. This means that the company’s entire presence and its portfolio of gas engines and CHP plants of the MWM brand had to be developed in this direction. All measures of the anniversary campaign were consistently tuned to this overall strategy. In the anniversary year, the design and contents of all communication measures were thus revised.

Implementation of the MWM Anniversary Campaign

Unfortunately, the pandemic made it impossible to hold the planned anniversary celebration in 2021. Nevertheless, various measures were taken to stimulate the employees and to leverage the anniversary year to strengthen their bond with the company. “The employee opinion survey conducted throughout the group at the end of the year reveals that the value of the bond with the company could be stepped up by more than 4 percentage points”, explains Aljoscha Kertesz, Manager Communications & PR.

For example, the cross-location anniversary run was an event that strengthened this bond. Around the globe, some 9 percent of the employees participated in the anniversary run, and some 23 percent participated in the subsequent vote on which charitable organizations are to receive the donations.

In numerous e-mails, at the works meeting, and in the social media, employees praised the for the MWM brand anniversary produced book and the film, drawing attention to the positive impression these have made. Within the first weeks of the publication, the German-language anniversary video on YouTube achieved more than 2,750 clicks, and the English version that was uploaded later on achieved similar success.


DATENSCHUTZHINWEIS: Beim Abspielen von Videos gelten die Datenschutzbestimmungen von YouTube. /// PRIVACY NOTE: If you play a video, privacy regulations of YouTube apply.

Active assistance in the design and rollout was obtained from an experienced team comprising the Frankfurt-based agencies BRANDCONTRAST GmbH and TMC The Marketing Company GmbH & Co. KG, Mannheim-based Filmproduktion Motionplan GmbH & Co. KG, and others.

Award Ceremony of the German Award for Business Communication (DPWK) on June 23, 2022 in the Club Theater Berlin

This year, the award ceremony will take place on June 23, 2022 in the Club Theater Berlin in the presence of 500 invited guests. During the final, 48 companies and associations will showcase their most promising prior-year campaigns in eight categories. For the first time, a special award is in store for the FLINTA* Empowerment Communication category. By means of this award, the German Award for Business Communication (DPWK) wants to underline its commitment to acceptance and openness in business communication. All finalists have been selected by way of an independent, complex assessment process in which the measures of the individual campaigns are evaluated. The objective is to reward the campaign’s entire communicative and creative impact.

In 2022, the German Award for Business Communication will be held for the 21st time by the Association to Promote Business Communication (WiKo) and HTW Berlin. In the more than 20 years since its introduction, the German Business Communication Award has become a recognized industry institution. The award winners are determined according to high standards by an independent jury that consists of the Business Communication students of HTM Berlin. In this task, they are actively supported and guided by professors and experts. Companies and organizations as well as agencies involved in the communication measures, which are based in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, are eligible for participation.

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