Siemens Employer Branding: Who Owns the Brand? (A)

In 2015, Siemens was facing a recruitment crisis. In an era in which digitization and data science were key in engineering, it found itself competing for talent against the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, while being perceived as a much less attractive place to work than those hotshot companies. After carrying out a survey, Siemens discovered that it was seen by nearly all stakeholders as an old-fashioned, unattractive and conservative company, which was a poor reflection of the cutting-edge work that Siemens carried out in many industrial sectors. How could that perception be changed? Case A presents the members of the employer branding group at Siemens when they are debating a strategy to make the company more attractive to potential talent, examining several alternatives and strategies Siemens could use. Case B presents the outline of the strategy they selected, dubbed "Future Makers" and based on content and stories produced by Siemens's own workforce. Then case B sets out the challenges facing that strategy and how it overlaps with the master brand and other brand-related functions in the company. Ultimately, the question is asked: Who truly owns the brand? And who should own it?