A Royal Experience By Mercedes Benz

Of the world's greatest car brands, Mercedes Benz is part. It is a name to reckon with when it comes to the automotive engineering. The brand has been raised to the status of a currency at some places owing to its popularity. So what has made the parent company of Mercedes Benz, i.e.Daimler Chrysler, opt for brand development? The reasons behind the pursuit of brand development includes for Mercedes Benz, Daimler Chrysler and global change respectively.

As per its earlier record, Mercedes Benz has been known to constantly innovate and improve; however, with the more and more brand guidelines and design formats heaping up, it hasn't been able to stick to it. More than one major car brand exists under the Daimler Chrysler group, which is totally a new situation for Mercedes Benz and has created a difference in its earlier position within Daimler Benz. To ensure that all is brands get their due share of popularity, the parent company must define the needs and targeted markets.

It was crucial for Mercedes Benz to retain its premium identity in an era when cars are tending to converge in terms of their specifications, performance and quality. The brand management department of Mercedes Benz roped in an advertising firm of repute in June 1999 to access the situation. The task was to develop a Brand Design System for Mercedes Benz that would supersede previous guidelines and take advantage of online advances. Furthermore, through their extranet, the company decided to make it fully available to audiences around the world; including dealers and agencies.

A Brand Expression, the basic statement for conveying the special heritage was to be developed which included the brand values. Through the print and the online media, the expression conveyed the thoughts regarding the brand and described the work done on the project. Apart from the brand expression, the Brand Design System included three more building blocks known as the Basic Design Elements, the General Design Guidelines and the Specific Design Guidelines.

The Basic Design Elements include the brand mark, typefaces, colors and other constants that form the basis of the brand in all applications. Their brand logo, for example, basically remains the same, i.e.a 3-pointed star; but for its web application was reworked. The General Design Guidelines deal with the applications themselves, from templates for stationery, to guidance on exhibitions and web design. With the growing rage of the internet, web presence has become vital for any business today; stressing the importance of web designing.

Specific Design Guidelines involve applying the two above mentioned parameter heads in respect to specific areas of the business or to specific sub brands of the service. That is to say that the sub brands, within the brand's frame work, should be able to meet their own demands too. Mercedes Benz's values means in the same way it values the end which is evident in the technology that makes the guidelines available to users. It displays the advancement with respect to technology; and the efforts of Mercedes Benz directed towards e-branding.

The users, who now immediate access via the desktop 24 hours a day, up to date brand information and downloadable templates, art work and images, as well as online help, a glossary, search features, useful contacts and news as well as a single database source for all information, are definitely the primary focus of this technical development. They now enjoy a single database source for all information, immediate access via the desktop 24 hours a day, up to date brand information and downloadable templates, art work and images, as well as online help, a glossary, search features, useful contacts and news. Rather than working on the aesthetic aspects, they have focused their efforts on its functionality; making it easily navigable and having other useful features.

The Mercedes Benz Brand Design System is a state of the art global brand management in action. It is comprehensive, accessible and user friendly. To be more specific, the brand must ensure that it has different brand designs for all in house brands.

It is also important to have an impressive brand expression, if you plan to go global, as in this case. The emphasis of the website is on simple navigation and helpful features rather than state of the art effects and animation.