MANILA, APRIL 2007 - DHL, the world's leading express and logistics company, recently discussed the importance of building a corporate strategy that would result in an enduring brand loyalty among customers during the annual branding forum organized by Marcus Evans Conferences at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

DHL Express Philippines deputy country manager Christophe Piganiol stressed during the forum that the most important strategy is positioning the brand properly, noting: "A well-positioned brand addresses important consumer benefits in unique and compelling ways. It also creates an emotional connection to the consumer, and also provides flexibility for future growth."

The first step in positioning a brand is in-depth research. The research should provide a profound consumer insight, a thorough knowledge of the competitive environment, and an understanding of consumer benefits.

"Some people would say that the best a corporate brand might hope to own is the leadership position in an industry. The brand promise would read as follows: '[Company] is the quality, innovation leader in the industry.' I believe that is a very weak positioning. The strongest corporate brands own something more than that in consumers' minds," Mr. Piganiol said. "A powerful brand position should be believable, unique and compelling; admirable and endearing; difficult to emulate; timeless and enduring."

DHL's latest branding initiative, "All the Way", highlights the company's key differentiators, featuring its people and proactive service-oriented attitude to communicate the company's personal touch in everyday situations. The core elements in the communication are that DHL is a good express provider, easy to deal with, knows and rewards our customers, believes in service and product innovation, and is a global trade facilitator - with the aim of making DHL the customers' first choice.

The campaign, which was rolled out in the first quarter of 2007, aims to reinforce DHL's tagline of going "All the Way" for customers by demonstrating that DHL is committed to playing an integral role in contributing to customers' success.

"For us, 'All the Way' means that at DHL we truly have our customers' best interests at heart and that we will go the 'extra mile' to fulfill what we have been tasked to do," Mr. Piganiol said. "The campaign demonstrates different ways in which we are going 'All the Way' for our customers, to achieve our goal of becoming their first choice for all their express and logistics requirements."


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