Tallinn, 07/31/2017

‘Fresh Perspectives’ in Eastern Europe

Finalists, members of the judging panel and organizers

Subject: Media & Services, Employees
Country: International
Category: Project

Good ideas transcend borders. After the success of the British “Fresh Perspectives” initiative  , starting this year Bertelsmann employees in Eastern Europe and Spain have been able to participate in the innovation contest as well. The first “Fresh Perspectives Eastern Europe” finals took place in July during the Country Coordination Meeting there. Six finalists presented their ideas to a panel of judges including CHRO Immanuel Hermreck, Arvato CRM Solutions CEO Andreas Krohn, who is responsible for the Eastern Europe region on the Group Management Committee, and local Managing Directors from the Bertelsmann divisions.

The jury was especially impressed by the application-oriented concepts of Sedat Aydin from Arvato in Turkey, Slawomir Grzekowiak from Arvato in Poland, and Guillaume Rabhi from RTL Croatia, who emerged as the winners of the finals. The Eastern European edition of the “Fresh Perspectives” initiative was coordinated by the Bertelsmann Corporate Network and Andreas Krohn on the initiative of the Managing Directors of Bertelsmann's local businesses.

The Six Finalists

Sedat Aydin of Arvato Turkey presented his “Logistics 4.5” project at the “Fresh Perspectives Eastern Europe” finals. It seeks to optimize the supply chain process by pre-packaging frequent orders based on data. The process has already made initial savings at Arvato Turkey and has further potential within the SCM organization. Slawomir Grzekowiak of Arvato Poland presented “Foka,” an interactive quiz for Arvato employees that gives them information about Bertelsmann and Arvato in a fun way. The success of “Foka” is based on competition between colleagues and non-material rewards, such as a drive in a sports car or being served coffee by the CEO. Guillaume Rabhi dealt with the expansion of RTL Croatia’s activities to the music business and presented a concept for exploiting the TV channel’s music rights. The project is already being successfully implemented, and RTL Croatia already has a first summer hit by the Croatian singer Indira lined up.

Priit Viks of Arvato Estonia presented his concept for an in-house mentoring program for employees at all levels. Miriam Litschel, UFA Show & Factual, presented her idea of a platform called “Releview,” that lets you follow friends, family members and influencers, and uses a bot to deliver personalized recommendations on various topics such as music, events, food, fashion etc. to smartphones. Andras Levai of RTL Hungary developed an app that can be used to make dates for playing sports together. Based on the functionality of the Tinder dating app, people can find others who are nearby and interested in the same sports.

More Than 11,000 Employees Reached

The initiative was announced last November and reached more than 11,000 employees in Bertelsmann's Eastern European divisions. From the many submissions, ten candidates were selected who came to Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1, Berlin for pitch training and a semifinals workshop in June. Here they received support from Tobias Schiwek, Head of UFA Lab, and Andreas Krohn.

The six “Fresh Perspectives” finalists who ultimately took part in the final round in Tallinn have each been given a sponsor for their idea, who is now reviewing the implementation and continuation of the projects with them and supporting their further development. An update on the ideas and concepts produced this year will be presented at the Country Coordination Meeting Eastern Europe 2018.