Creating awareness of professional cleaning - a campaign in Germany

8th of April 2021
Creating awareness of professional cleaning - a campaign in Germany

Katja Scholz in Germany reports on the latest news from the contract cleaning association, BIV.

Take part in the discussion on socio-political questions – that is the challenge facing the sector with the largest workforce in Germany.  At the beginning of the year, the Federal Association of Contract Cleaners (BIV) took a further step towards this when, in the middle of January, it launched its podcast.

“Our podcast is about politics and science, specific trades and industry in general, training, digitalisation, migration and sustainability, as well as social and cultural developments. The range of subject matter affecting our sector is huge”, explains Christopher Lück, BIV director of policy and communications and moderator of the podcast.

“We would like to focus this year mainly on politics and the economy – which provide us with a multitude of topics for discussion, particularly in light of the parliamentary (Bundestag) elections in September.”

In the opening podcast from the association’s president, Hans Peter Wollseifer,  the content ranged the pandemic to the economic situation and the political demands made by the sector in this so-called “super election year” of 2021.  In the second of the monthly podcasts, the president of the German Institute for Economic Research, Professor Marcel Fratzscher, was the guest contributor.

Guest contributors are of course only participating virtually at the moment – the interviews are recorded digitally separate from each other and merged together later. When viewed afterwards, however, the guests appear to be conversing face to face with Christopher Lück. The podcasts can be accessed on the BIV website as well as on general sites such as Spotify, Deezer or iTunes.

And why make a podcast? The answer is quite simple: podcasts are very popular.  Around one-third of all households in Germany listen to them – especially in the younger age group between 16 and 29 years old. “We want to make dialogue with relevant opinion-leaders available to those young people as well, so the next generation of contract cleaners can see:  we’re taking part in the discussion!”

Image campaign 2021

“It’s not always the police that have the flashing light” or “It doesn’t matter where you come from; the important thing is where you’re going to!” - with charm, wit and occasionally with a wink, 15 male and female contract cleaners representing the 700,000 employees in their industry paint a picture of their day-to-day work.

From the trainee and the office cleaner to the divisional manager, they all describe their daily routine in the BIV image campaign – authentic, competent and all very different.  “Authenticity lies at the heart of the campaign. We shall only have an impact if genuine workers, both men and women, talk about their profession from their own perspective”, says Thomas Dietrich, president of the federal association.

The faces of the cross-media campaign are just as varied as the messages: from facts about the business to political demands, the protagonists’ messages range far and wide. They can be seen and heard on social media, on posters or on exhibition screens. The campaign faces are also all accompanied by short videos.

“The cross-media nature of the image campaign relies on being used as frequently, as prominently and in as many ways as possible by the trade guilds and by our companies. The aim is to draw attention to the attractive and wide-ranging entry-level and promotion possibilities in our business,” concludes Lück.

 

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