Part Three - Undercover in Munich

I spent the summer of 2018 undercover.

Sworn (NDA’d) to secrecy, I went back and forth to Munich to work on a top-secret project (undoubtedly codenamed Alpha, Phoenix or something equally nauseating). And now, with the redacted files having been released (possibly in a Signal group chat), I can reveal my mission.

To announce Allianz’s Worldwide Olympic & Paralympic Partnership.

Admittedly, I was slightly daunted at first. Until then, I’d largely focused on internal communication and suddenly, I had to think about press releases, exclusive interviews and pitching to global media. Luckily, I had an experienced team and agency alongside me.

It was also my first time at Head Office. But I soon got the hang of it.

1)      Drink coffee whenever possible. There’s no such thing as a meeting “ohne kaffee”.

2)      Eat your main meal at lunchtime. I’d say I was in a schnitzel-coma for perhaps 10-15% of my visits.

3)      Speaking English is okay. Very different to my Erasmus year in France.

Back to the project.

A big part of the challenge was keeping my fellow communicators from around the world in the loop without giving the game away. We needed their support if this was to have the impact we wanted. And having previously been on the ‘local’ side of these global events, I hoped I could bring a different perspective and make sure everyone knew what they needed to do before, during and after the event.

We also wanted everyone to support the announcement with a local event of their own, including a live stream from Munich. And while this might sound straightforward post-COVID, it really wasn’t then.

Meanwhile, back home, I couldn’t tell my UK colleagues what I was working on. This was hard, as I often had to cancel meetings and say no to things without being able to say why. But with messaging often changing, people working across different time zones and material being ready at different times, I had to be slightly selfish and focus on delivering the project.

Almost 20 drafts later, we had our final release. In multiples languages. In multiple formats. As someone in the team quipped, we may have set a new Olympic record.

The Opening Ceremony was over. It was time for the hard work to begin.

🔜 Part four – A new assignment

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