Petra Sammer began her career as a journalist after studying film philology in Munich/Germany. Early experience in advertising led her to join the global communications network Ketchum in the early 1990s. Over the course of two decades, Petra shaped the agency’s strategic and creative vision as Managing Director, Global Partner, and Chief Creative Officer. Under her leadership, Ketchum Germany was named the country’s most creative PR agency in both 2015 and 2016 (PR Creative Ranking Germany). Today, she runs her own business — pssst... petra sammer strategies | stories | trends — where she advises companies, brands, and leaders.

Creativity, ideation, and storytelling lie at the heart of Petra’s expertise. Countless organizations and corporations have benefited from her guidance, gaining new creative momentum and becoming stronger, more effective storytellers — including brands such as Altana, Bayer, Bertelsmann, BMW Group, Bosch, Burger King, Campari, Caritas, Freudenberg, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Infineon, Henkel, Hitachi, Merck, Mercedes-Benz, Nestlé, Pixar, Random House, Starbucks, Sennheiser, SOS Children’s Villages International, Unilever, Union Investment, TransferWise, Telefónica, Whirlpool/Bauknecht — and many more.

Petra is the author of several bestselling books, including Storytelling in Marketing und PR (O’Reilly) — a Top 10 PR book on Amazon — Visual Storytelling (O’Reilly), and What’s Your Story? On Leadership Storytelling (O’Reilly).

She has received numerous awards in marketing and PR, and has served on prestigious juries including the Cannes Lions (twice), D&AD Awards, CLIO Awards, Eurobest, and others. Since 2025, she has been a member of the Steering Committee of the PR Creative Ranking, conducted by the trade publication PR Journal.

Petra is also the founder and curator of Plot, a storytelling think tank and annual conference that brings together creatives from PR, advertising, film, journalism, gaming, and tech to explore trends and innovations in storytelling and communication.

And pssst… Petra is always on the lookout for great ideas — and even better stories.

"PR must learn how to make people laugh and cry, every day. 

PR must get comfortable with a balance of facts and emotion. 

PR must focus its stories around heroes and encourage our clients to recognise

the need for conflict in our work.  We must give equal thought to words and visual communication.

If we can do this, and some of the work of our industry proves we very much can,

there are some truly wonderful and incredibly rewarding opportunities to be had."

Petra Sammer at ICCO