The Porsche Newsroom is the primary source for all journalists and the interested public. The digital portal offers up-to-date information and data regarding the company, all prepared for cross-media use and in seven languages.
On course for success with pioneering spirit
Porsche is heading into a digital, connected and sustainable future boldly and at a sporty pace. Porsche’s Strategy 2030 will guide he company on its way. It is driven by pioneering spirit, dedication and the desire to permanently change things. The sports car manufacturer is resolutely and systematically realising its ambitious transformation goals – with teamwork, step by step, from one milestone to the next.
The Communications, Sustainability and Politics department is especially important here as the strategic goals need to be precisely described, the measures comprehensibly explained and the progress made with strategy work clearly communicated. This needs to happen both internally and externally – employees, customers and the public want to be kept in the loop and join Porsche on its journey into the future. They want to know about the concrete impacts of the Porsche strategy on the company’s workplaces, products and sites, while also bearing in mind the effects on society, the economy and the environment.
The core responsibilities of the Communications, Sustainability and Politics division are to transparently and credibly inform people about Porsche and its strategic goals, generate lasting trust in the brand and strengthen the company’s reputation. It strategically develops, manages and orchestrates the company’s communications. It coordinates the diverse individual measures, tailors them to the target groups in question and operationally implements them.
A comprehensive reorganisation in the year under review resulted in a significant increase in the efficiency and strategic strength of Porsche Communications. This success is made transparent by means of regular measurement, with the most important performance indicators being analysed. These include the PR value, tone and media penetration. These measurements are complemented by reputation analysis.
Successful communication work is founded on open dialogue with all of the company’s stakeholders. These include the international media, policymakers, authorities and associations, civil society and, internally, the Porsche employees.
Powerful public relations
To impart information and messages in a targeted manner, Porsche Communications draws on the entire array of modern-day instruments and channels.
One of the key tools is traditional public relations – in the course of the year under review, the sports car manufacturer published just under 420 press releases about new products and technical innovations, motorsport, company topics and important events relating to the brand’s history. Porsche’s communication experts also oversaw around 80 verbatim interviews with members of the Porsche Executive Board.
This resulted in broad, high-profile reporting on Porsche topics in international print and TV media. Porsche succeeded in getting its products and topics onto the front covers f publications 94 times in 2021. Almost 47,400 articles about Porsche were published around the world in the course of he year under review. Porsche Communications therefore once again made a big contribution to the company’s value creation, s reflected in the high PR value of around 1.3 billion euros.
Digital channels increasingly important
As was the case in the previous year, 2021 was likewise dominated by the global coronavirus crisis. The two pandemic waves at the beginning and the end of the year really put social coexistence to the test again.
This had an impact on how people used media, with the clear trend in the direction of going online continuing. The digital communication channels therefore increased in importance again. Porsche Communications sees this change as an opportunity and is making the most of it. It systematically expanded its digital information services in the year under review and boosted the brand’s presence in online media and social networks.
Online, the Porsche Newsroom is the primary source for all journalists and the interested public. The digital portal offers up-to-date information and data regarding the company, all prepared for cross-media use. The extensive array is complemented by features and background reports.
The Porsche Newsroom is he primary source for all journalists and the interested public. The digital portal offers up-to-date information and data regarding the company, all prepared for cross-media use and in even languages.
The content is published in seven languages (German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Chinese). The Newsroom additionally features the moving images platform NewsTV with the latest streams, videos and the online format 9:11 Magazine. The diverse array of information is complemented by downloadable photos, infographics, podcasts and videos.
Lifestyle topics related to Porsche
The Newsroom is relevant not only to journalists, but also to the general public, customers and fans of the brand. The attractive platform is increasingly being used by this target group as well to obtain first-hand information about Porsche, as also indicated by the ever-increasing number of platform visits. The Newsroom reached around 3.2 million people in 2021.
The coronavirus pandemic caused lockdowns and travel restrictions again in the year under review. The Newsroom responded to this with a new content series called Sunday Drives, in which well-known Porsche enthusiasts presented their favourite routes. Here, the Newsroom users are taken on exciting, adventurous journeys around he world.
Sunday Drives is part of the Scene & Passion section of the Newsroom, which is primarily dedicated to lifestyle topics related to Porsche. It showcases extraordinary personalities from the international art and culture scene who have a particular passion for the Porsche brand.
One of them is the graphic designer Jeffrey Docherty from New Zealand, whose work ncludes the front cover of Issue 400 of the Porsche company magazine Christophorus. Another of them is the German music journalist Niko Hüls with his two-part hip hop documentary Back to Tape, which is presented by Porsche. The book that goes with it, Hip Hop Kultur, won a German Brand Award in the category Product and Communication Design.
The Newsroom content is complemented by variety of digital agenda-setting activities n high-reach social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and DriveTribe. This has made a key contribution to the success of Porsche Communications. The sports car manufacturer registered 1.7 million followers on its Newsroom channel on Instagram in 2021, achieving some 126 million impressions. The company recorded 2.7 million impressions through DriveTribe. Twitter contributed 583,000 followers with 11.1 million impressions. A total of 263 million impressions and some 3.6 million followers were recorded across all of Porsche Communications’ social media channels in the year under review.
Bringing the products to people’s attention
Communicating new vehicle models and innovative technologies in an attentiongrabbing way is one of the main tasks of Porsche’s public relations work. For example, the presentation and roll-out of new products is regularly accompanied by diverse communication measures ranging from press events to mark premieres and the dispatching of images and information materials to media representatives through to driving events that offer automotive journalists the opportunity to conduct extensive practical testing. There is also an extensive press fleet featuring the latest test cars from all the series.
The goals of Porsche’s Strategy 2030 and he ongoing progress made with their implementation are also carefully presented in the product communication. In this way, the fact that Porsche is systematically expediting its transformation in the areas of action of electrification, digitalisation and sustainability is clearly publicised.
In March, the company presented the Taycan Cross Turismo to the global public with an nnovative digital world premiere. The all-lectric all-rounder made its first appearance in the Hyperbowl studio at Munich Trade Fair Centre. Cutting-edge digital and video technology blurred the lines between the world f film and the real world. The spectacular event was broadcast around the world on NewsTV. In addition, a comprehensive multimedia press kit containing detailed information generated a strong media response o the new model.
In early September, Porsche offered a visionary view of the future of the sporty automobile. At the start of IAA Mobility in Munich, the company presented its Mission R concept study. The study with an all-electric drive combines cutting-edge technologies and sustainable materials with a passion or motorsport. The pioneering technology leader’s attention-grabbing trade show appearance in the capital of Bavaria was followed by media around the world and featured in their reporting.
Porsche lit a major innovation firework in November – the sports car manufacturer simultaneously celebrated no less than five world premieres at the LA Auto Show. In addition to the elegant Panamera Platinum Edition, four new sports models in particular attracted a lot of attention from media and the trade show visitors. The highlight was the new top model from the 718 family – the 718 Cayman GT4 RS and its racing version, the 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. Two ew versions of the all-electric model series Taycan were likewise presented in Los Angeles – the Taycan GTS and the Taycan GTS Sport Turismo.
The premiere show was broadcast live on Porsche’s NewsTV. The trade show event as complemented with information on and photos and videos of the new models being dispatched to international media.
Porsche is shaping the future of mobility – with highly emotive internal combustion engines, high-performance plug-in hybrids and innovative all-electric drives. This is the key message of the drive strategy that Porsche impressively underscored in Los Angeles with its new models. This position was lastingly picked up on in global report-ng on the premium manufacturer’s trade show appearance.
70 years after Porsche’s first class win in Le Mans, the Porsche Museum produced a series of videos called Porsche Moments. The six episodes were published on the Instagram channel, on Facebook and on YouTube.
Bringing together tradition and the future
The mission of Porsche Heritage is to make the past fit for the future in the present. The future topics of digitalisation, electrification and connectivity are not at odds with the company’s history as tradition and innovation together form the foundations of the Porsche brand. Work on tradition is therefore firmly embedded in the corporate strategy.
The Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen is much more than merely a place that allows people to experience Porsche’s tradition. It is also a centre of gravity for Porsche’s Heritage Experience. It takes the brand’s vibrant and forward-looking identity to all the regions around the world. The historical vehicles in the museum’s extensive collection are used as brand ambassadors around the world – and demonstrate how closely the future of Porsche is connected to its origins.
2021 marked the 70th anniversary of Porsche’s first class win in Le Mans – a great occasion for the Porsche Heritage department and the museum to focus in-depth in the year under review on the unique success story that Porsche has shared with the famous 24-hour race held by the River Sarthe since 1951.
The Porsche Museum produced a series of videos called Porsche Moments to mark this anniversary. The six episodes were published on the Instagram channel @porsche.museum, on the Facebook page @porsche.museum.stuttgart and on YouTube. The sports car manufacturer also organised an international roadshow with 14 stops in 10 countries which presented more than 20 original winning vehicles from the museum’s historical collection.
Porsche Heritage communicates its messages very successfully via social media channels. A very loyal, international fan base of more than 500,000 followers has been built up on Instagram in the space of just four years – and this number continues to rise. The Instagram channel is also met with great interest outside of its circle of followers. With two posts a day, it has average media penetration of around 800,000 Instagram accounts a day. Porsche Heritage has another approximately 240,000 followers on its Facebook page. Sixty-seven per cent of those who show an interest in Porsche Heritage in social media are in the 18-to-34 age bracket.
The Porsche Sound Night organised by the Porsche Museum was held digitally for the first time in the year under review under the title of Next Level. Former and current racing drivers and race engineers presented the sounds of carefully selected racing and series production cars via live stream at the Porsche Museum and the Weissach Development Centre. The interactive event was broadcast globally in three languages on the website soundnacht.porsche.de and was watched by 150,000 viewers in 73 countries. A recording of the spectacular concert of engines was subsequently published on the Porsche Museum’s YouTube channel.
70 years after Porsche’s first class win in Le Mans, the Porsche Museum produced a series of videos called Porsche Moments. The six episodes were published on the Instagram channel, on Facebook and on YouTube.
Christophorus celebrates its 400th issue
Named after the patron saint of travellers, Christophorus is Porsche’s main company magazine. The exclusive magazine has very long history and is one of the world’s longest-standing corporate publications. Christophorus has been offering the Porsche brand’s friends and customers all kinds of nformation and background reports on its vehicles and technologies since 1952. It also contains interesting lifestyle stories nd features.
The magazine celebrated the publication f its 400th issue in the year under review. Christophorus is currently published our times a year in 13 languages (German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portu-uese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Dutch and Polish). It has a total circulation of approximately 600,000 copies per issue.
Porsche sets great store by sustainability when producing the magazine. Innovative technologies in the printing process result in significantly lower emissions – CO₂ emissions are reduced by more than 50 per cent compared with conventional printing processes. In addition, Christophorus is printed on FSC-certified paper. This certification guarantees a sustainable production rocess, from the cultivation of wood as raw material through to paper as the nd product.
A digital issue is produced in all the languages in addition to the printed magazine. The rint and online versions are intelligently interconnected, with the topics from the print version being complemented with moving images and additional digital content in the online version.
Award-winning quality
Christophorus clinched Gold in the Best of Content Marketing Awards (BCM) for the third time in 2021, thus placing the magazine in the corporate publications hall of fame. The BCM recognised the magazine as a “permanently outstanding example of continuous quality in content marketing”.
The magazine character of Christophorus is also reflected online in the digital moving image format 9:11 Magazine, which profiles interesting people with a special Porsche connection. Each episode is based around a special theme, which is staged in the form of multiple video clips. All the content can be used by journalists and online influencers for their own productions.
The high journalistic quality of the videos also impressed the Cannes Film Festival ury in the year under review, with 9:11 Magazine counting among the winners at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2021. It was awarded a coveted Dolphin trophy for the “Porsche, Comic Hero” chapter in Episode 17.
The clip “Unseen: Mauer’s design studies”, likewise from Episode 17 of 9:11 Magazine, reaped multiple awards. It won the Red Dot Award 2021 in the category Brands & Communication Design for its high design quality. And in the Best of Content Marketing Awards, the clip won gold in the category Non-Fiction – Branded Entertainment.
In the Automotive Brand Contest 2021, 9:11 Magazine collected no less than four awards in the category Corporate Publishing, with the episodes “Silvestro at the Start”, “A 911 on Your Wrist”, “Porsche, Comic Hero” and “Zeitgeist” all being recognised. The video magazine also made an impression in the Digital category with the episodes “Dreaming” and “The Beauty”. Porsche AG’s Annual and Sustainability Report 2020 was likewise recognised, picking up a German Brand Award in the category Corporate Publishing.
Porsche Communications is highly efficient and forward-looking. Its broad, transparent and cross-media array of information plays a significant part in people’s positive perception of the company, the brand and its products.
New podcast formats
Porsche launched a podcast format that goes by the name of 9:11 in summer 2020. Its first season comprised 12 episodes. Season 2 then began with episode 13 towards the end of the year under review.
Once a month, Porsche’s Vice President Communications Sebastian Rudolph welcomes famous guests and talks with them about interesting topics in the fields of business, society and sport – always topics that have some connection to the legend that is Porsche. The 9:11 podcasts are available to download from the Porsche Newsroom and on the company’s intranet. They can also e found on all the usual podcast platforms, from Apple to Spotify.
There are additionally two other podcast formats to be found in the Porsche Newsroom. In the Next Visions podcast, forward thinkers who work on innovations and visions of the future have their say. An English-only version also appears under the same name, hosted y Head of Porsche Digital Christian Knörle and Tim Leberecht, CEO of the Berlin-based platform House of Beautiful Business. The Inside E podcast has a different focus. Here, insiders offer interesting insights into the first all-electric racing series, Formula E.
Transparently informing the employees
The employees are also very important to he company. Porsche Communications therefore dedicates its attentions to them with just as much intensity, care and professionalism as it does with the exter-al stakeholders.
Keeping the workforce continuously, promptly and transparently up to date regarding all the relevant decisions, developments and events generates trust. And this is essential, in particular at times of transformation. Porsche Communications has had a tried and test tool for this to hand for years in the form of the internal Carrera media.
The ecosystem of the Carrera media family was already hybrid in nature before the coronavirus pandemic, featuring up-to-date online and print offerings. The printed Carrera Magazine and the site newspapers regularly provide the workforce with information on the latest developments. Background reports go into greater depth on topics of relevance to Porsche.
Like Christophorus, the print versions of the Carrera media are printed on FSC-certified paper using cutting-edge methods. The contracted printing company is likewise certified in accordance with the FSC and PEFC sustainability standards. Mineral oil-free nks are used for printing and the energy used is 100 per cent renewable.
Digital services were also significantly expanded last year. The main internal medium is Carrera Online, a news platform that all the employees can access at any time via their PC or a smartphone app.
Carrera Online publishes up to four articles a day that often feature additional video content. News about the latest developments nd events relating to the company and its products can be found here, as can general information on the company’s organisation, Porsche’s Strategy 2030 and qualification measures. The Chairman of the Executive Board or his Executive Board colleagues regularly address the workforce via video messages to keep them up to date on key decisions. As such, all the employees can find comprehensive information on all the key topics at any time.
The employees are also very important to the company. Porsche Communications therefore dedicates its attentions to them with just as much intensity, care and professionalism as it does with the external stakeholders.
Transparency generates trust
Porsche Communications is highly efficient and forward-looking. Its broad, transparent and cross-media array of information plays a significant part in people’s positive perception of the company, the brand and its products. The brand’s strategic orientation is also communicated comprehensibly, both internally and externally.
The trust that Porsche’s stakeholders place n it is therefore strong, as indicated among other things by the results of the reputation analysis newly introduced in 2020. This trust serves as a good basis for making a success of transformation in these challenging times of upheaval too.
