Business Information Bosch Corporation Press Release

• Manga to strengthen sense of unity and to convey the principle of company founder's spirit
• Publication internationally recognised with several awards
• Other language versions besides Japanese under consideration

A manga about Robert Bosch, his work and his life will be published by the Bosch Corporation in Japan on January 20th, 2012. The 340 pages long publication with the title Robert Bosch Biography is a compilation of ten individual episodes. The episodes were distributed to employees in Japan since May 2009 to strengthen the sense of unity within the company. In order to communicate the company founder's spirit which has guided the Bosch Group for 125 years since its foundation, the book will now be made available to the public. Customers, suppliers as well as municipal organisations, libraries and schools nearby Bosch locations in Japan will receive the publication. "The Bosch Group in Japan consists of many companies with different cultures and background which made a targeted communication about the founder and his spirit needed. Manga was chosen as an easily understandable and Japan specific communication tool. Thanks to the manga biography, our employees are now more familiar with the Bosch spirit." said Hideaki Oda, president of Bosch Corporation in Japan.

Numerous international awards for the publication

Outside of Japan, including Germany where the Bosch global headquarters is located, manga is often perceived as "comic for children". Therefore it was a daring project to produce a biography of Robert Bosch in form of a manga. Historical accuracy and authenticity of its content were assured by close collaboration between all members in the project team who were located in both Japan and Germany.

So far the Robert Bosch Biography manga has been awarded with the following prizes from diverse international organisations:

• Gold Medal at the 2010/11 Spotlight Awards by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP)
• Bronze Medal at the 2011 Spotlight Awards by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP)
• Gold Medal at the 2011 Astrid Awards of MerComm, Inc.
• iF Award of the iF - International Forum Design Hannover
• Silver Medal in the category "Innovation" at International Corporate Media Award (ICMA)

Preparation for the manga project started in January 2007 and one episode was published every three months since May 2009. Distribution of each episode took place in conjunction with the internal associate magazine Bosch Zünder Japan which is received by all Bosch employees in Japan. From the very beginning of the project the manga was designed to be easily adapted to other languages. Other language versions are already under consideration as many requests from other countries with Bosch presences are coming in.

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Contact:

Naomi Funada, phone: +81 3 5485-3393

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