Fifth Marketing-Dialog: Global Brand Change by Linde AG
How can a corporate group take its worn image and transform it
into the brand of a visionary technology leader? Linde AG has
managed this feat with the aid of a "brand change". Those
who attended the fifth Marketing-Dialog hosted by the Print Media
Academy in Heidelberg on July 29, 2006 learned the details of its
metamorphosis.
Quite a bit has been in flux at Linde AG since 2003. Today values such as a global presence, future-oriented competence and fascination define the image of this multinational technical group. The company is communicating the market leadership of its Gas and Engineering divisions to the outside world with a new slogan, "LeadIng" ("Ing" alludes to the German word for engineer, Ingenieur). And the figures speak for themselves: Linde's roughly 42,000-strong global workforce achieved sales of 9.5 billion Euro in 2005, up by about seven percent from the preceding year. Two speakers - Tina Mirzai, in charge of branding at Linde AG, and Dr. Alex Buck, CEO of the Peter Schmidt Group, one of Germany's biggest three branding agencies - described Linde's path of change and explained why, in their opinion, the process has not yet been finalized.
Quite a bit has been in flux at Linde AG since 2003. Today values such as a global presence, future-oriented competence and fascination define the image of this multinational technical group. The company is communicating the market leadership of its Gas and Engineering divisions to the outside world with a new slogan, "LeadIng" ("Ing" alludes to the German word for engineer, Ingenieur). And the figures speak for themselves: Linde's roughly 42,000-strong global workforce achieved sales of 9.5 billion Euro in 2005, up by about seven percent from the preceding year. Two speakers - Tina Mirzai, in charge of branding at Linde AG, and Dr. Alex Buck, CEO of the Peter Schmidt Group, one of Germany's biggest three branding agencies - described Linde's path of change and explained why, in their opinion, the process has not yet been finalized.
New impetus
Tina Mirzai talked about the company's logo to illustrate how problematic its image was until 2003: "Although the company was steadily evolving, the logo - based on Karl von Linde's signature - hadn't changed since the 1950s." The graceful blue signet made a correspondingly conservative impression. In many other ways as well, there was a gap between Linde's commitment to technology leadership on the one hand and the old-school, inconsistent ways in which the company portrayed itself. According to Mirzai, it was Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle who got the ball rolling after taking the post of management board chairman in 2003. "He initiated the brand change, insisting that the company had to get its visions back into harmony with its corporate identity, improve the efficiency of brand communications, and strengthen the profiles of the company's divisions."
Getting everyone into one boat
Alex Buck stressed that the brand change crucially depended on getting all players into one boat from the start. This rarely happens with projects of this kind, he said. "Our job is to enable non-experts such as top executives to take part in the process and define an appropriate goal," stated the CEO. As the Peter Schmidt Group sees things, the brand change process consists of six main steps that it calls analysis, strategy, creativity, transition, factory and evaluation. The most important thing is to visually present the information and involve the client in the process: when determining where a company now stands, when deciding on a strategy for the future, or when developing a new brand image. The agency therefore works with models and positioning scenarios. "They let the client grasp that each positioning strategy will have different consequences. They show how it feels when, for example, I decide to position myself as a prestige leader: this is the imagery I'd use, this is how my meeting room would look, etc." In the end, Linde chose to position itself as the "absolute global competence leader": intelligent, visionary, showing the way. "A decision like this turns everything upside down," warned Buck. "Not every company is able to do it." But Linde was in the fortunate situation of having a charismatic CEO who was willing to steer the company out of calm waters into choppier seas.
Tina Mirzai talked about the company's logo to illustrate how problematic its image was until 2003: "Although the company was steadily evolving, the logo - based on Karl von Linde's signature - hadn't changed since the 1950s." The graceful blue signet made a correspondingly conservative impression. In many other ways as well, there was a gap between Linde's commitment to technology leadership on the one hand and the old-school, inconsistent ways in which the company portrayed itself. According to Mirzai, it was Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle who got the ball rolling after taking the post of management board chairman in 2003. "He initiated the brand change, insisting that the company had to get its visions back into harmony with its corporate identity, improve the efficiency of brand communications, and strengthen the profiles of the company's divisions."
Getting everyone into one boat
Alex Buck stressed that the brand change crucially depended on getting all players into one boat from the start. This rarely happens with projects of this kind, he said. "Our job is to enable non-experts such as top executives to take part in the process and define an appropriate goal," stated the CEO. As the Peter Schmidt Group sees things, the brand change process consists of six main steps that it calls analysis, strategy, creativity, transition, factory and evaluation. The most important thing is to visually present the information and involve the client in the process: when determining where a company now stands, when deciding on a strategy for the future, or when developing a new brand image. The agency therefore works with models and positioning scenarios. "They let the client grasp that each positioning strategy will have different consequences. They show how it feels when, for example, I decide to position myself as a prestige leader: this is the imagery I'd use, this is how my meeting room would look, etc." In the end, Linde chose to position itself as the "absolute global competence leader": intelligent, visionary, showing the way. "A decision like this turns everything upside down," warned Buck. "Not every company is able to do it." But Linde was in the fortunate situation of having a charismatic CEO who was willing to steer the company out of calm waters into choppier seas.
Self-confident and straightforward
Over the last three years, Linde and the Peter Schmidt Group have worked steadily to engineer the brand change. The project team has conducted analyses, come up with definitions, worked out details, monitored the progress made, and implemented a host of measures. And the change has been significant. The ornate old logo was "ironed out", the company's divisions received their own profiles within the scope of the overall corporate identity, and the language being used is now self-confident without seeming arrogant. The slogan, imagery, corporate font, employee publications, website, facilities, motor pool, clothing - everything now conforms to the defined brand image, consistently conveying Linde's new self-confidence throughout the enterprise. Asked what role print has played in this project, Buck replied that it isn't possible to implement an entirely paperless brand change. Besides the Linde brand portal, the employee newsletter has played an important role in involving staff in the change. Their response has been correspondingly positive: many of them have been pleased by the change, added Mirzai.
Now the goal has nearly been reached, said Buck, but the brand change process will continue as long as the company keeps developing. That is why he attaches such great important to the current evaluation phase. "The agency and the client need to find out whether anything is changing that will have repercussions on the brand," he stressed. Linde is now paying greater attention to the acoustic dimension, for example; a "corporate sound" is now being worked on. And the next major change is just around the corner, said Mirzai: Linde is planning to take over the competing BOC Group, which will have consequences for corporate strategy, brand communication and brand management. "The process continues," concluded Mirzai. Buck added that "this project has gone very well. We have had the full support of the management board, and I must say it is fun working for Linde. In the end, the overall feeling is what counts. And I think it's a good one in this case."
Contact:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Print Media Academy
Kurfürsten-Anlage 52-60
69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 24 01
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 49 29
E-mail: pma-info@heidelberg.com
Over the last three years, Linde and the Peter Schmidt Group have worked steadily to engineer the brand change. The project team has conducted analyses, come up with definitions, worked out details, monitored the progress made, and implemented a host of measures. And the change has been significant. The ornate old logo was "ironed out", the company's divisions received their own profiles within the scope of the overall corporate identity, and the language being used is now self-confident without seeming arrogant. The slogan, imagery, corporate font, employee publications, website, facilities, motor pool, clothing - everything now conforms to the defined brand image, consistently conveying Linde's new self-confidence throughout the enterprise. Asked what role print has played in this project, Buck replied that it isn't possible to implement an entirely paperless brand change. Besides the Linde brand portal, the employee newsletter has played an important role in involving staff in the change. Their response has been correspondingly positive: many of them have been pleased by the change, added Mirzai.
Now the goal has nearly been reached, said Buck, but the brand change process will continue as long as the company keeps developing. That is why he attaches such great important to the current evaluation phase. "The agency and the client need to find out whether anything is changing that will have repercussions on the brand," he stressed. Linde is now paying greater attention to the acoustic dimension, for example; a "corporate sound" is now being worked on. And the next major change is just around the corner, said Mirzai: Linde is planning to take over the competing BOC Group, which will have consequences for corporate strategy, brand communication and brand management. "The process continues," concluded Mirzai. Buck added that "this project has gone very well. We have had the full support of the management board, and I must say it is fun working for Linde. In the end, the overall feeling is what counts. And I think it's a good one in this case."
Contact:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Print Media Academy
Kurfürsten-Anlage 52-60
69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 24 01
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 49 29
E-mail: pma-info@heidelberg.com
