Rainer Mueller-Mueffelmann of BASF discusses its corporate podcast with WPF

BASF, headquartered in Germany, is the world’s leading chemical company with more than 150 production sites worldwide. In December 2006, the company launched two podcasts, under the lead of the corporate PR department.

The main reasons behind the podcast project were to develop new target groups, explore new ways in reaching the public, raise brand awareness, and convey the values of the BASF.

The process from conception to launch was rapid, taking only about 4 months, with the bilingual BASF podcast launching in April 2007 (see here and here).

The podcast team is headed by Rainer Mueller-Mueffelmann, the responsible editor, who controls the realization of the podcasts. First, the team conducts research about the topics, then the script is created. Appointments with interview partners are scheduled and the interviews are recorded. The content is new and unique for the podcast, not simply repackaged material.

BASF uses an external production company, and one of the hardest parts of launching the podcast series was to select the best one, as many production companies competed for the business.

The podcast is for external communication purposes and seeks to present interesting BASF topics to the public in an informative and entertaining manner. Two different topic channels are offered: “Chemistry of innovations” in which topics of research and development are covered. “The chemistry reporter", a weekly show, is more entertaining and responds to questions of our “chemistry” everyday life. The show has educational aspects, and listeners can send their questions to a dedicated email address.

A key focus of the podcast is to make BASF more transparent. BASF is a chemical products company. Some people have reservations about such companies and one of the purposes of the podcast is to show how BASF's heavy investment in R&D touches and improves people's lives.

In terms of promotion, the BASF podcast is advertised prominently on the company websites and is registered in places such as iTunes, podcast.de and podster.de.

Listener involvement and participation is important, and BASF maintains direct communication with its listeners via the dedicated email addresses