News | Gütersloh, 12/05/2014

An interview with Karin Schlautmann on the importance of communications

In an interview with the industry magazine "Faktor 3" Karin Schlautmann, Head of Corporate Communications at Bertelsmann, discusses the importance of external and internal corporate communications and their development into the digital age. Read on for the full text of the interview.

Ms. Schlautmann, which of the following idioms do you like best? Talk is cheap; silence is golden. Talking nonstop. Obey every word.

Karin Schlautmann: I couldn’t say. One can surely find good examples in life for all of them.

How do you see your role in the company?

Karin Schlautmann: Corporate communications is traditionally a priority at Bertelsmann – not least because we are a media company. Organizationally, the department is at Executive Board level, which means I report directly to our Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe. In terms of content, our most important task is to support the implementation of Bertelsmann's corporate strategy. Above all, this means explaining our strategy with its various priorities internally and externally in an understandable way and on a variety of channels. I think we’ve succeeded in doing this well – and often in innovative ways – in the past few years.

How important is language in what you do?

Karin Schlautmann: Language is a very extensive topic with us – this is clear alone from the fact that Bertelsmann operates in around 50 countries. Besides, language can’t be reduced to the written word in our case: We define language in a broader sense. Although we work a lot with texts and printed media, we also pursue a variety of approaches beyond them. By this I especially mean the many new media channels that exist today, and on which visuals – and therefore also visual language – play an important role. The transformation to digital is a core component of our corporate strategy and has long been a reality in our businesses. We must (and also want to) take this into account in our communications. We review every platform that comes available: Is it a good channel for us? Can we reach target groups that are important for us through these new channels? Our goal is to safeguard Bertelsmann’s reputation and that of its protagonists. To achieve this, we pursue many approaches but ultimately, of course, language in all its facets is the crucial element for corporate communications, for our team and for me – taking into account the changes that communication is undergoing.

What has changed?

Karin Schlautmann: Language is a sensitive cultural asset. It changes, especially with regard to communications via digital and social media. And today just about everything is communication. It starts with people’s appearance, what fashions they prefer, how they live, what groups they belong to. As I said, language can’t be reduced to texts and words. Our world is complex, especially when it comes to communication.

But a media group like Bertelsmann ought to be especially good at communications, no?

Karin Schlautmann: That's right. Bertelsmann lives by and from content. There is a lot of content seeking to communicate with users. Authors want to enter into dialog with their readers; television wants to incite people’s emotions more. For all communication channels – from traditional printed products to modern tablets – one thing is true: Without content they are ultimately just technology. Given its size, strong brands and creativity, Bertelsmann is perfectly positioned to deliver this content, now and in the future.

In language and communications you first think about creating connections to the outside, but a big part of your job is directed in-house. Can you tell us a bit more about this?

Karin Schlautmann: Bertelsmann has 110,000-plus employees – that’s more than the population of Gütersloh – so in-house communications are accordingly important for us. Keeping all our colleagues up to date and on board is no easy task, so we use a variety of formats to keep all employees informed as quickly and comprehensively as possible. The Group's key information medium is our intranet, which delivers news from all parts of the Group in four languages – it reaches all of the company’s employees. We regularly produce videos for this, in which Mr. Rabe comments on recent developments. There’s also our staff magazine INSIDE, which appears in German and English and is read in all business units worldwide. Incidentally, Mr. Rabe is one of the few CEOs in Germany who uses Twitter, so for many people - both internally and externally – he is a tangible figure.

How has corporate communications changed over the past few years? How important are Twitter and co.?

Karin Schlautmann: Bertelsmann’s experience with the social media is still a relatively new thing. For the past two years we have operated on all major channels and have thereby given Bertelsmann a much more digital footprint and image. Our “social cloud,” which aggregates all the social media activities of Bertelsmann companies, we currently have more than 5,700 channels with a total of around 535 million followers. This shows the importance of digital channels in getting content to the people. Because we consider communications holistically, we want to be a recognized dialog partner in these places as well.

How could things develop from here? Where might Corporate Communications ten years from now?

Karin Schlautmann: I wouldn’t dare predict the future for individual media and what developments might still come, but in the digital world there is certainly still great potential for development. Take the e-book, for example, which now has a market share of over 30 percent in the U.S. Who could have imagined five years ago that you could go on vacation with 500 books in a small reader? When Bertelsmann executives visited Silicon Valley last year, the program included a guided tour of Facebook. An employee there said with pride that she was practically one of the founding team, because she had been there for seven years. By comparison, Bertelsmann has been around for nearly 180 years, so new companies still have a long way to go. But I can say with certainty that we will also use the next new communication channel if it makes sense for us. And I also think it’s safe to say that corporate communications will become even more important in the future!

So you’re not expecting any breaks in the development? They do happen – suddenly, typewriters are in demand, there is growing demand for good old vinyl records, or online retailers start offering their range in printed catalogs...

Karin Schlautmann: Things like this do happen, but I think such market movements will usually take place in niche areas.

Do you personally prefer to read on paper or in digital form?

Karin Schlautmann: I read almost everything digitally on my iPad. It simply makes sense for me because I travel a lot. However, I come from a traditional print background, and worked for newspapers and magazines for many years, so I also love to have a finished printed magazine in my hands. I don’t necessarily miss the feel of turning the pages, but I do see the special beauty of such a product. So both still have their place, and that won’t change.