Wir überwinden Grenzen

German Online Communication Award 2025 and German PR Award 2025 recognize innovative approaches in employer branding and healthcare communication

Corporate Communications at the University Medical Center Freiburg has received two awards: the German Prize for Online Communication (DPOK) from Quadriga University and the industry magazine Kom in the Disruptive Communication category and the German PR Award from the German PR Association in the Health Communication category. The juries honored two different projects, each of which broke new ground in hospital communication: an unconventional employer branding campaign with QR codes and video clips in public spaces and a fact-based YouTube channel against health disinformation. The prizes were awarded on May 21 in Stuttgart and May 23 in Berlin.

"The fact that we have been recognized for two such different projects shows how creative and innovative hospital communication can be today," says Benjamin Waschow, Head of Corporate Communications at the University Medical Center Freiburg. "Whether it's unconventional employer branding or digital health education - our aim is to break new ground, provide impetus and constantly rethink communication."

Disruptive communication meets digital health education

With the slogan "We start where others stop", the DPOK award-winning campaign attracted nationwide attention in fall 2024: posters in numerous major German cities without a visible sender and with QR codes led to short, self-shot video clips of employees. These provided a personal insight into everyday hospital life - and deliberately broke with established patterns of traditional image advertising. The campaign achieved over 335,000 video views and visibly strengthened the employer branding of the University Medical Center Freiburg. The DPOK is regarded as the most important award for digital communication in the German-speaking world. An independent jury honors the best, most innovative and most creative digital projects in 52 categories.

Previously, the project "Health News instead of Fake News" from the University Medical Center Freiburg was awarded the German PR Prize. The new @UniklinikumFreiburg channel now has the widest reach of any German university hospital YouTube channel. In close cooperation with YouTube Germany, more than 90 videos and 54 shorts were produced to provide serious health information and counter misinformation. The project recorded around 2.4 million views, 27 million impressions and a significant strengthening of its position as a trustworthy source in the digital space.The German PR Award of the German Public Relations Association (DPRG) is considered the most traditional and important German PR award. It honors communication projects that have achieved outstanding resonance with innovative solutions and have successfully dealt with resonance.

Caption: The University Medical Center Freiburg received two awards for new approaches in hospital communication.
Image source: University Medical Center Freiburg

Caption: The campaign "We start where others stop" was put up on posters in several German cities, including on mobile advertising spaces.
Image source: University Medical Center Freiburg