A cocktail reception was held in the evening for nearly 300 BASF employees giving them an opportunity to see how the different solutions they helped develop come together in the i-flow. This was also an opportunity for management to reinforce the importance of cross-department collaboration, together creating chemistry for a better, sustainable future.In 2010, Hong Kong experienced some of its worst air quality days with levels exceeding the World Health Organization’s standard by 14 times. According to studies by local universities and environmental groups, a major cause of air pollution in the city is vehicle emissions.

BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, is a major global supplier of emissions-reduction solutions to the automotive industry. Ketchum helped support a communications program to showcase these readily available technologies to stakeholders in Hong Kong.

At the center of this communications program was the i-flow, a concept car jointly developed by BASF and Korean car manufacturer Hyundai. The vehicle employs 25 BASF solutions ranging from insulation systems, lightweight construction materials, heat reflective pigments to catalytic converters. It was brought to Hong Kong to demonstrate the application of these technologies, and also how they can be used in diverse applications such as trains, buses, motorcycles, and even buildings.

Over a one-day event three external and internal communications activities were arranged. The program began in the morning with a panel discussion on air pollution and mobility featuring BASF senior executives, environmental experts from NGOs and academia, and BASF stakeholders. The event was hosted by BASF’s Dr. Albert Heuser, president of market and business development for Asia Pacific and Hermann Althoff, head of BASF’s automotive business for the region, who introduced the i-flow to guests, and further explained the BASF solutions with an augmented reality demonstration.

A press conference was arranged in the afternoon where Althoff and Man-woo Lee, head of specialty business at BASF Korea, walked through the BASF solutions in the i-flow to more than a dozen automotive journalists from automotive magazines and daily newspapers.