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BO PR cooperates with Kreissparkasse Gotha

In the summer semester 2023, the 24 bachelor students of the seminar "Berufsfeldorientierung PR" under the direction of Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann will develop two campaigns for the Kreissparkasse Gotha. The cooperation will start with a joint briefing on April 17 at the Kreissparkasse's offices.

At the briefing, the students exchanged ideas with the board of directors and other employees of the district savings bank. The focus was on the specific project tasks and expectations. The task is to develop different concepts for attracting trainees and skilled workers as well as for attracting young customers. The students create appropriate PR concepts in self-established PR agencies, which the Kreissparkasse Gotha can then use. On 07 July the presentation of the results takes place in the context of a real pitch at the TU Ilmenau. There, the board of directors of Kreissparkasse Gotha will participate with other employees and, as in real life, select the winning team.

"I am looking forward to this project. It offers us the opportunity to open up completely new perspectives and develop strategies. We are also looking for specialists and junior staff. How to address them even better is one task. The second task is to make the savings bank even more attractive and visible to young customers. Attracting young people as customers is the focus here and will enrich and complement our youth market campaign. I am very excited about the students' results," emphasized Jörg Krieglstein, Chairman of the Board of Kreissparkasse Gotha.

"In the last semester, the students gained their first insights into the professional field of public relations and learned about relevant methods and instruments. Now the students are applying what they have learned in practice. To this end, they set up junior agencies and develop strategic communication concepts. They work independently and under real conditions with a real assignment, a small budget and, of course, time pressure," Elisabeth Wagner-Olfermann from the TU Ilmenau explained the purpose of the project.

In the past, students of the TU Ilmenau have already created concepts in the same framework for various clients, such as the Thuringian Climate Agency, GB Neuhaus GmbH, the Regional Management Kreis Gotha & Ilm-Kreis, Schmitz Cargobull, Flight Design and SAE Schaltanlagenbau Erfurt.

 

Research

We research various structural, content-related and social dimensions of strategic communication, including in the context of technology-oriented organizations. Our focus is on public relations & organizational communication, risk and crisis communication, communication with and about technologies, and international strategic communication.

ResearchTU Ilmenau
TeachingTU Ilmenau

Teaching

In the area of teaching, we deal as a field of expertise with the areas of public relations, crisis communication, international communication, communicator research as well as media change and social media.

PublicationsiStockphoto
  • Schwarz, A., Seeger, M., & Auer, C. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of international crisis communication research. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
    Schwarz, A., Schleicher, K., Srugies, A., & Rothenberger, L. (2017). Crisis communication of youth welfare offices in Germany: Findings on media coverage and strategic communication especially in the context of severe cases of child welfare endangerment. Ilmenau: Ilmenau University Press. 
    Schwarz, A. (2010). Crisis PR from a stakeholder perspective: The influence of attributions of cause and responsibility on organizational reputation. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. for the Social Sciences.

The research group for Public Relations and Communication of Technology has been led on an interim basis since 04/2023 by Prof. Dr. Martin Löffelholz. The team consists of Dr. Andreas SchwarzFrancis Alpers, Elisabeth U. Wagner-Olfermann, and Tatjana Faj. Melanie Waltinger currently supports as team assistant.

 
TeamAnLi Fotografie