This year, Opel is celebrating 125 years of automobile manufacturing. This success is made possible by the people who have worked for the Blitz brand over the decades and identify with it. It is they who, together with the models and company news, are the focus of the “Opel Post”. Founded in 1949, the employee magazine reflects the spirit of the times and is continually evolving. Started as a print magazine, it has been available worldwide as a current web magazine via the Internet since 2013.
“75 years of Opel Post – these are 75 years of stories and articles about the people, the models and the projects that make up the brand. Here you can find out what’s going on at Opel – authentic, informative and very close to the people. A look behind the scenes is included. Congratulations, Opel Post,” says Opel head of communications Harald Hamprecht, congratulating on the 75th anniversary. “Not many companies can look forward to a magazine that continuously keeps employees up to date with in-house news over such a long period of time,” says editor-in-chief Mark Bennett. After all, the Opel Post is one of the most traditional employee magazines in German industry.
In July 1949, the Opel Post was launched in journal format (left). The company publication also appeared in the 1950s (second cover from the left) and 1960s (the two covers on the right) with full-format cover images together with the Opel Post logo.
In the 1970s, more color came into play: the Opel-specific yellow appeared on the covers, as did content such as new models, training in the company and motorsport.
Before the Opel Post, the company already had a works newspaper. The “Opel-Geist” appeared for the first time in April 1930, followed from 1936 to 1944 by the “Opel-comrade”, which in these years functioned primarily as a propaganda tool. The “Opel Post” was born in 1949. With it, a new mentality emerged that suited the new, democratic Germany and the newly formed Opel company. The cooperation between management and staff should form the core of the articles. The new newspaper “can and will do a lot to promote this cooperation and the spirit of mutual trust that it requires,” announced the then chairman of the board, Edward Zdunek, in the first issue.
The beginnings: the “provisional” Opel Post
Democracy and co-determination are the top priority – this is already evident in the second edition, in which those responsible are organizing a competition and asking the staff to suggest titles for the new publication. The name “Opel Post” is only provisional; the employees will come up with the final title. At the end, a jury chooses the proposal “Under the Opel Tower” as the winner. But at the same time, it is clear from the majority of submissions that they want to keep the name “Opel Post” – and that is what the employee magazine is called to this day.
From the beginning of the 1980s, the Opel Post appeared in newspaper format. Here you can see the covers (from left) from 1981, 1985, 1997 and 1999. There were regular facelifts – Opel Post lettering, lightning bolts, and fonts were constantly refreshed. In 1993 color photos were introduced.
The next lasting change came in 2005. The makers of the Opel Post decided to return to the magazine format (cover on the left from 2005, middle from 2008). From 2010 onwards, the newspaper format (right) was introduced in a modernized form.
“It’s difficult to please everyone,” suggested Karl Heinz Mai, the first editor-in-chief of the Opel Post, who at the time still called himself editor, in the first issue. But openness and the ability to take criticism are among the strengths of the new publication. And so the preparation of the annual report at the Opel Post, which was still unusual in 1954, was already a topic of conversation on the production line and in the offices. What’s more: in a short time, according to editor-in-chief May, the Opel Post has developed “from a modest newsletter to a comprehensive magazine that is well-respected by the public and often quoted in the press and specialist newspapers”.
Very close to the employees
A recipe for success: In order to always be very close to the employees, not only people and their projects are the focus of many articles – the editorial team has also been getting an overview of the opinions of their readers since the first few years with recurring surveys. These opinion pieces repeatedly confirmed that around two thirds of all employees are completely satisfied with their company newspaper; the rest only express detailed criticism, which the editorial team is happy to take up as a suggestion.
The switch to the digital age followed in 2013: the page-turning PDFs (left) were the first harbingers. In March 2014, the Opel Post went online as a modern web magazine and has since been available worldwide in German and English.
The next big change will take place in 2013. The Opel Post faces the challenges and demands of the digital age – and becomes a continuously updated web magazine. As the “Opel Post online” it has since been available online in two languages (German and English) at any time and anywhere in the world. In 2021, the web design will be adjusted again to make the range of texts, photos and videos even more usable, for smartphones and tablets as well as on large displays.
Available online anytime, anywhere
The main topics are still interesting facts about the company, as well as portraits of employees, dealers, tuners and Opel friends with their dream cars. And what print was never able to make possible is now standard: users can use a variety of downloads as an additional offering beyond reading, ranging from design sketches, painting and craft templates for children to desktop motifs for the PC are sufficient. Because even in its 75th year of publication, the Opel Post wants to be very close – to you, our readership.
February 2024
Photos: Opel, Opel archive