Series 2 Episode 8: The Bosch model for corporate digital impact
The journey from mid-list to joint top of the Index
In this episode of Cutting Through, Lukas Preuß, Digital Communications Manager at Bosch, joins Scott Payton and Jonathan Holt to talk through the thinking and techniques behind Bosch’s phenomenal rise up the Corporate Digital Communications Index. Within a few years under Lukas’s leadership, Bosch has gone from mid-list to joint number one in the Index – all while balancing careful governance with a sense of authenticity and fun. Find out how Lukas and the team map out and execute continuous improvements; how they select and hone the rich stories that appear on bosch.com; Lukas’s views on the looming changes ahead for all digital comms teams; and more.
Key themes from the conversation
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Optimise for AI search through structure and clarity
Focus on quality content that communicates with simplicity and clarity, which AI engines reward, while maintaining a human voice to ensure authority and distinctiveness.
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Prioritise authentic, immersive storytelling
Explore multimedia content and new approaches to telling the company story, such as the innovative Bosch annual report. A focus on authentic stories, featuring real people with unique expertise, helps to build trust and engagement.
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A product engineering approach to continuous improvement
Bosch applies the company’s data-driven and user-centric engineering design approach to its digital estate. Plans are informed by benchmarking and other data each year, and broken down into manageable projects that collectively refine the user experience.
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Redefine success metrics beyond traffic
As AI search provides answers directly to users, raw website traffic is becoming less relevant than interactions such as scroll depth and time spent, and the brand's visibility within AI search engine citations.
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The evolving role of the communicator
Lukas predicts that the future of corporate digital communications is likely to shift from steering agencies to steering AI agents. While AI will make production faster and cheaper, the human communicator’s role remains vital for exercising judgement, protecting reputation, and explaining complex organisational decisions.
References and resources
- Bosch corporate site
- Lukas Preuß on LinkedIn
- Bosch 2025 Annual Report, including the "Milestones" timeline review of the year
- Bosch story "Exploring by e-Bike"
- Bowen Craggs Index Snapshot
- Bowen Craggs benchmarking
- Google's "Guide to optimising for generative AI features on Google search"
Further reading
- Article – The best FAQs on the corporate web - and what to learn from them
- Article – The new face of corporate leadership content
- Article – Rich editorial is back
- Podcast – The secret sauce behind Nestlé's corporate digital comms success
- Podcast – In the AI age, is authenticity enough?
- Report – Secrets of Corporate Digital Leadership