Siemens AG is a global powerhouse in electrical engineering and electronics. The 162-year-old company, based in Germany, employs about 475,000 people and serves customers in 190 countries. Prior to Siemens 160th anniversary, the company faced several reputation challenges:

• Erosion of the brand through compliance issues
• Changes in top management
• Lack of clarity and transparency internally and externally about what Siemens stood for
• Major portfolio changes, which impacted overall positioning
• Lack of a clear brand profile in the global marketplace.

Siemens' corporate communications team was tasked with driving a new strategic positioning with consistent communications inside and outside the company and across business groups and regions. Key objectives included regaining trust internally and externally and repositioning the Siemens brand to strengthen the company's reputation worldwide.

A major challenge from the start was this: How do you build or manage reputation for a non-consumer-facing brand?

Beginning around 2005, Siemens had divested businesses such as mobile phones and home and office communications products. Through several acquisitions, it shifted its portfolio more toward offerings for business customers in the energy, industry and healthcare sectors. Management identified these markets as being positioned to ride a tailwind from four megatrends: demographic change, urbanization, climate change and globalization.

How do you build or manage reputation for a non-consumer-facing brand?

While Siemens' key products aren't sold to consumers, they offer solutions to consumer problems raised by these megatrends (e.g., growing demand for healthcare and elder care; increasing scarcity of natural resources; and increased demand for safety and security). Hence, in 2007, the company launched a communications campaign called "Answers," focused on how Siemens offers answers to the world's toughest questions.

The integrated campaign addresses four key audiences through various communication efforts.

Customers	Print: high-visibility image ads Online: core for content
Employees	Management cascade Employee communication Employee engagement
Societies	PR: providing proof points Thought leadership: setting the agenda
Shareholders	Analyst conferences Annual general meeting Annual report

"Siemens Answers" aims to build trust through third-party endorsement and dialogue. The campaign targets advertising to high-quality lead media with strong credibility. It integrates Siemens topics Siemens-branded content (such as advertorials on the company's green portfolio) into relevant editorial environments. And it uses events and trade shows to engage audiences in meaningful conversations, such as its "Future Dialogue" program, which partners with the Science Express and The Economist Conferences, to bring together prominent speakers to discuss how science, business and society can cooperate to master major challenges of mankind.

The global campaign is ongoing.

Stefan Denig is head of corporate communications, issues management, at Siemens AG in Munich. He joined Siemens in February 2006 after holding various communication positions for companies such as Deutsche Bank and Allianz. He has degrees in literature and international relations from the Université Paris IV/Sorbonne Nouvelle and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, France, and has taught at universities in Munich and in Pittsburgh.