A new visual identity: Most significant brand relaunch of DB Schenker for more than 10 years

New corporate design visualizes the company’s strengths • B2B logistics provider focuses on emotional appeal • More differentiation, relevance and accessibility through new choice of pictures and colors • Redefinition of the most international brand in the DB Group

DB Schenker has opted for an updated visualization of its own brand. The transition to a new visual language of the world’s leading logistics provider is starting immediately. The use of the brand logo has been adapted along central corporate strengths and core elements of the external presentation in marketing formats have been fundamentally revised. It is the most extensive communicative repositioning of DB Schenker since its complete docking into the parent company Deutsche Bahn.

Jochen Thewes, CEO of DB Schenker: “Internationality, teamwork, innovative spirit and reliability are what set us apart. Our customers know what we can do and what differentiates us from the competition. With our new visual language, we will now also be able to better present these strengths. We have therefore decided to make our brand stand out more strongly from the oftentimes uniform look and feel of the logistics industry. It was time to rethink the brand and leave familiar patterns behind.”

First of all, the marketing color scheme has been revised significantly: Blue, which is widely used in the industry, is now largely abandoned. Instead, Teal is used as fresh and modern basic shade. Introducing this new type of signature color also underlines DB Schenker’s efforts and objectives for more sustainability in logistics. At the same time, elements such as the red “Pulse” enable identification and recognition with the DB umbrella brand.

Rüdiger Vetter, Vice President Global Marketing of DB Schenker: “Instead of changing the logo, we have amended its environment. In this way, we remain true to the brand’s core, but can still show its development. The stronger emotionalization in the external appearance underlines the unique identity of our company, which we have communicated too little so far.”

The new visual appeal is also reflected in the selection of photo motifs. The new pictures predominantly show real DB Schenker employees – authentic “heroes of logistics”. Authentic fields of work are shown in natural light.

Some of the new portrait pictures were taken by Munich-based photographer Thomas Straub, whose skills in visual storytelling ideally mitch the central idea of DB Schenker’s new brand image.

As part of the new corporate design, the use of the brand logo is also much more flexible, as the mandatory use of a white background is no longer required. This applies both to the own name “Schenker” and to the integrated “DB” logo of Deutsche Bahn AG. The optional color change of the font to white instead of black means that is can now also be used on dark backgrounds.

Since the proportion of mandatory elements in campaign and advertising motifs has also been significantly reduced, there is more space and freedom overall to show the value positioning of the brand. This also enables the brand to be more agile in digital communication environments in the future.

The starting signal for the reorganization of the DB Schenker brand was given in 2018, when a stronger global brand management for DB Schenker was initiated. The relaunch was driven forward in intensive coordination with the individual business units.

At the same time, Deutsche Bahn AG was working on a repositioning reported to the renowned Peter Schmidt Group. For DB Schenker, the design specifications for the Hamburg company were then worked out by the Mainz-based agency Conteam.

“The timing was really ideal. We worked very well with the DB marketing team. The new umbrella brand design and layout has enabled us to act more freely in our strategy, in order to position the group’s global brand more appropriately”, adds Rüdiger Vetter.

The announcement of the new brand was preceded by weeks of numerous in-house presentations, webinars and training sessions to enable the simultaneous introduction of the new and uniform appearance in over 130 countries around the world. A further global roll-out is planned in several steps over the months ahead. A corporate claim is also in planning.