On March 23, 2021, the Board of Management presented BSH's business performance to invited media representatives from around the globe in its first virtual media event. Now, you get a sneak peek behind the scenes.

The Annual Press Briefing is one of BSH's most important company-wide communications-events. The Board of Management not only presents the company's business figures to the international press, CEO Carla Kriwet and the Management Team shares insights from the most important topics of today and tomorrow in terms of BSH’s core business, the white goods industry, and our consumers.

"It was a great team effort across different regions, central functions, brands and departments. The special challenge this year with a completely virtual format proved to be a great opportunity for global communications work" says  Julia Henry, Head of Global Corporate Press and moderator of the event.

This year, colleagues from Corporate Communications and Event Management had to face a special challenge: Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Annual Press Briefing was held completely virtually for the first time in BSH history. Instead of the normal in-person attendance at BSH's conference and training center in Munich, journalists and media representatives from 16 countries took part in the event via live stream on a website developed especially for this event. 

After the keynote speeches by Carla Kriwet, Gerhard Dambach, Silke Maurer, and Matthias Ginthum, the media also had the opportunity to pose their questions in real-time directly to the BSH management in this virtual format. In an intensive conference lasting around 50 minutes, intensive use was made of this.

Weeks of intensive preparation by the teams

Preparations for the event - in terms of both content and organization - were also intense. Colleagues from Communications and specialists from all BSH regions worldwide supported the Annual Press Briefing with facts & figures, background information, studies, and more. All in preparation for the keynote speeches and the questions from media representatives. Indeed, without their support, it would not have been possible to present such a colorful and appealing portrait of BSH to the media.

BSH's core messages generated impressive media coverage

From the "Thermomix hunter" (Handelsblatt) and "Cooking as a trend" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) to "Household in the cloud" (Handelsblatt again) and "Renting instead of buying" (Moebelkultur) - BSH's current topics were picked up by the leading German media in particular. A total of 117 journalists from 16 countries took part in the event. More than 270 media articles appeared worldwide by the end of March. BSH also reached a wide audience on social media in a short time, with around 14,000 impressions, 18,861 views, and almost 2,000 reactions within 24 hours.

More on BSH's hot topics and 2020 business performance here on the Annual Press Briefing website. 

What about Corona measures?

48 employees, including BSH management, service providers and technicians, were tested prior to the event on Covid-19. A total of 96 tests were performed in 48 hours. On 900 square meters of film-set, 19 technicians installed around 300 meters of fiber optic cable covering two floors of the building. The technical team also took care of lighting and sound in the four brand showroom kitchens of the BSH training center. At least, eleven cameras captured the images of all the protagonists.

"The Annual Press Briefing was a great team effort across different regions, central functions, brands and departments. The special challenge this year with a completely virtual format proved to be a great opportunity for global communications work. The general interest of the media, particularly positive coverage in Germany as well as international media, shows that BSH is not only Europe's number one in the kitchen, but also plays a leading role in the digital age with virtual formats," said Julia Henry, Head of Global Corporate Press and moderator of the event.

Take a look behind the scenes of the event now