175 Years of Bertelsmann — Multimedia Chronicle and DVD Anthology

Under the theme “175 Years of Bertelsmann — a Future Story”, a comprehensive multimedia chronicle was created in 2010 on the occasion of the group's 175th anniversary, making a wealth of texts, images, audio and film documents from the Bertelsmann archive publicly accessible, in many cases for the first time.

The web chronicle formed the main entry point: a floating, freely rotatable cube represented one era of the company's history on each of its faces. The virtual journey through 175 years followed a timeline presenting the milestones in virtual media stations. Through an interactive function, users could add personal memories and share them with others, linking the company's history with the experiences of customers and audience.

In parallel, a book anthology with a DVD supplement was produced and distributed free of charge to the approximately 100,000 employees of the Bertelsmann Group. The multimedia elements — the DVD supplement with previously little-seen photo and film material and an animated 3D chronicle — allowed the group's history to be explored interactively.

The project received two significant awards: the web chronicle was named Official Honoree of the 15th Annual Webby Awards in 2011 in the Corporate Communications category. The book anthology with DVD supplement was ranked first among 425 submitted corporate publishing publications at the Inspire Awards of the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) and received the maximum platinum rating.