Schaeffler cuts global content creation time in half with Airtable & AI
Schaeffler consolidated six tools, cut content cycle time by half, and scaled global marketing operations, supporting hundreds of users across over 50 countries.
1
Day reduction in content request age
50%
reduction in content request age
<1 min
designer task assignment time using AI
About Schaeffler AG
The Schaeffler Group has been driving forward groundbreaking inventions and developments in the field of motion technology for over 75 years. With innovative technologies, products, and services for electric mobility, CO₂-efficient drives, chassis solutions, and renewable energies, the company is a reliable partner for making motion more efficient, intelligent, and sustainable – over the entire life cycle. With around 120,000 employees and more than 250 locations in 55 countries, Schaeffler is one of the world’s largest family-owned companies and ranks among Germany’s most innovative companies. Its Global Branding and Marketing team supports a complex, matrixed structure— - serving regional and divisional teams worldwide with content and campaign needs that span languages, markets, and various technologies.
The challenge: fragmented tools, manual work, and inconsistency
When Jan Sassmannshausen stepped into the newly created role of Head of Content Strategy in 2023, he aimed to simplify the content management system in the branding and marketing area. Instead of using one tool for intake, one for project management and one for capacity planning, he initiated the introduction of one system that covers all tasks.
“It is important to have centralized visibility into what marketing-driven content is created and how it aligns with our brand,” said Sassmannshausen.
“It is important to have centralized visibility into what marketing-driven content is created and how it aligns with our brand”
The solution: a unified system for content and collaboration
In less than two years, the transition to Airtable – consolidating tools, streamlining workflows, and bringing visibility to content operations – took place. Starting with a proof of concept, the Global Branding and Marketing team eliminated complex systems and launched a single platform for intake, assignment, asset management, and reporting.
Key to the rollout was Airtable’s flexibility. So, a parent-child app model was built, enabling local teams to manage their own work while feeding structured data into a global calendar. That calendar became the foundation for more strategic planning—and will serve as basis for adapting AI-powered content marketing.
How AI supercharged the workflow
With Omni and Fields Agents in Airtable, the team improved various workflows:
AI-powered campaign concept generation
Marketers can now generate conceptual visuals in seconds to bring their campaign ideas to life from a simple description. Thus, they can ideate on their ideas, discuss different drafts and land on a decision before consulting a designer to devise the final asset. This workflow bridges the gap between new ideas and execution in the market.
Agency reviews and discovery
Schaeffler uses agents to analyze free-text survey responses and generate structured, unbiased summaries. This includes automatic translation from German to English, helping teams evaluate performance consistently. Each agency profile features AI-generated pros, cons, sentiment scores, and star ratings, replacing raw, subjective commentary with actionable data.
Smarter designer assignments
AI now matches incoming requests to designers based on skillset and availability, reducing task assignment time to less than a minute.Theme-based editorial planning
AI reviews all submitted content each month and scores it against Schaeffler’s strategic narratives, such as sustainability or employer branding. If content doesn’t align, AI can suggest tweaks or alternate timing. The result: a cohesive brand voice across global teams, without additional alignment meetings.
The impact
Halved content request age
Saved significant hours per employee per week
Consolidated six legacy tools into one system
Enabled global editorial oversight and content scoring
Replaced various planning meetings with a single strategic session
Looking ahead: Scaling self-service and strategic visibility
The next step is to explore AI-powered content creation and graphic needs, as well as to expand Airtable field agents and Omni app building and data analysis capabilities to front-end users. This enables internal teams to search, request, and assign work through language prompts.
"With Airtable, we can consolidate all marketing activities into one system and optimize workflows across departments"