Less Coordination, More Marketing
DB Schenker speeds up advertising logistics with BrandMaker
When Schenker Deutschland AG introduced
BrandMaker’s MRM solution at the end of 2009, the
optimization potential in the marketing processes had
already been identified: “Long throughput times for
Schenker Deutschland AG, the German division of
the individualization of our print media, with many
DB Schenker, is the world’s leading resource brand
time-intensive manual steps and increasing agency
for the transport and logistics of the Deutsche
costs, persuaded us to redesign the media creation
Bahn. It has 13,800 employees in more than a
process from the ground up with BrandMaker’s Web-
hundred locations and annual sales of
to-Print module,“ explains Thorsten Meffert, Head of
approximately EUR 3.8 billion, making it one of the
the Marketing team at Schenker Deutschland AG.
largest providers of integrated logistics on the
Another central challenge was making all the media
German market. DB Schenker assists customers in
objects in our inventory available in a central
industry and trade with the global exchange of
location. “It was important to make the handling of
goods on land, sea, and air. This must all be
image data easier for our employees,“ says Meffert of
planned and implemented quickly, seamlessly, and
the decision to introduce a media asset management
efficiently, for detours in the transport chain cost
tool in the company at the same time.
companies time, money, and orders. The situation is
similar for drawn-out release cycles that can
significantly slow down the service marketing of
decentrally-managed logistics companies. Since
Schenker Deutschland AG introduced its Marketing
Toolbox based on BrandMaker‘s Marketing Resource
Management (MRM) solution, tiresome
coordination between the local offices, central
marketing, and external service providers is a thing
of the past. The offices of Schenker Deutschland AG
can now create individualized flyers and brochures
by themselves without any detours – via the
Internet with BrandMaker‘s Web-to-Print solution.
User profile DB Schenker:
• Worldwide transport and logistics
services from a single source
• No. 1 in ground transportation in
Europe
• No. 1 in rail transportation in Europe
• No. 2 in worldwide air freight
• No. 3 in worldwide sea freight
• 91,000 employees in 130 countries
• 2,000 locations worldwide
• EUR 18.9 billion in sales in 2010
BrandMaker modules in use:
 BrandMaker Media Pool
 BrandMaker Web-to-Print
“We used 2009 to arm ourselves, with respect to both
format required for the use in question, for example.
technology and personnel, with new marketing tools
“With high-performance search and filter functions
and expert teams so we would be ready for the
and content keyword indexing, users can find the
recovery after the crisis. Demand was then truly
medium they need quickly. The search times are much
different than before, for now people are requesting
shorter,“ asserts Meffert about other advantages. In
ever more complex logistics services. With the great
addition, each user can adapt and organize his or her
demand for custom-tailored, modular logistics
personal area by storing frequently-used images as
offerings, our offices‘ demand for individualized
favorites or assigning them to individual collections.
advertising is also increasing,“ says Meffert about the
“For the acceptance of the MAM solution, it is
demanding initial situation that initiated the new,
extremely important that the office be offered a lot of
more efficient marketing approach.
help with image searches and usage,“ explains
“With our central online portal Marketing Toolbox,
Meffert about the additional expansion of the Media
which combines two of BrandMarker’s Web-based
Pool to include a special topic structure developed
MRM software modules, employees in the more than
especially for DB Schenker.
one hundred locations in Germany have round-theclock access to all marketing-relevant documents and
New Paths in Marketing Logistics
image files. They can also adapt standard brochures to
“With the Web-to-Print module, we automated a lot
their local markets without our assistance.“
of steps,“ claims Meffert. “Today, the individualization
of a document concerns only the office and
BrandMaker’s Concept Persuades
Marketing. Offices adapt the approximately 120 CD-
“We selected BrandMaker because the scalable
compliant layout templates themselves; in the end,
standard software with its basic functionalities and
these are approved by Marketing and sent to print. No
the provider’s clear, methodical solutions persuaded
graphics knowledge is required for this,“ says Meffert
us right away,“ is how Meffert explains his choice.
about the newly-created individualization process
The fact that the software is available directly using
that does not involve any external
just an Internet browser and that it supports the
service providers. The result is
integration of existing templates were other reasons
significant cost and time savings
for the decision. The initial costs of this software
for media creation: “We have
solution were quickly put into perspective: “At the
eliminated four steps and the
time, we calculated that the annual costs for the
agency step completely in the individualization phase,
individualization of our print media would be reduced
and we are now responsible only for the printing
by half in the first year after the go-live. And we were
costs,“ confirms Meffert. Additional savings arise from
not wrong about this, confirms Meffert.
the ability to use templates multiple times at will:
“Starting with the fourth individualized brochure, the
Media Asset Management with Navigation
agency costs for the creation of a new template are
Assistance
covered,“ explains Meffert. For the Marketing
Today, the Media Pool functions as a central database
supervisor, the MRM solution is simultaneously a
for approximately 4000
significant easing of the work, a savings measure, and
media objects, whose quality and timeliness are 100%
a control mechanism. “The software provides us with
assured. Some functions have proved to be especially
detailed reporting,“ adds Meffert, and with the Web-
useful: the media preview before a download and the
to-Print solution we can monitor the steps of the
automatic conversion of the file into the output
individualization and therefore optimize it. Meffert is
especially happy about the statistics: “The Marketing
About BrandMaker
portal is being used more and more. By the middle of
2011, more documents had been personalized than in
the entire previous year.“
BrandMaker is the leading provider of Marketing
Resource Management (MRM) systems in Europe.
Established in 1999 as pi-consult GmbH, the
More Time for Visions
“Now there are more possibilities for implementing
additional marketing tasks completely with the
BrandMaker software. Conceivable are the complete
handling of advertising design and a whollyautomatic ordering of our promotional gifts,“ says
Meffert as he looks enthusiastically into the
publishing future of a company, which with
pioneering marketing strategies, is striving for no less
than innovation leadership in its industry.
company has operated as BrandMaker GmbH since
2009; it focuses exclusively on the development and
marketing of demanding software solutions for the
marketing communication of medium-sized and
large organizations. BrandMaker is headquartered in
Karlsruhe and employs approximately 185 people.
The software by the same name is an extensive,
modular MRM solution that optimizes the entire
marketing process chain, makes operative marketing
easier, and significantly increase productivity in
marketing. Among other things, there are
BrandMaker modules for the realization of brand
portals, software-supported marketing planning,
media asset management, the automated creation of
online and print media, as well as centrallycontrolled local area marketing Well-known
companies that use BrandMaker solutions in their
communications and marketing departments BASF,
Bayer AG, Commerzbank, DekaBank, Ernst & Young,
EnBW, GLS, SaraLee, Schenker Deutschland, UBS, and
ZF Services. BrandMaker, Inc., the subsidiary
headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) is
responsible for the American market.
Contact:
BrandMaker GmbH
Rüppurrer Straße 1
76137 Karlsruhe
www.brandmaker.com
Tel.:
+49 (721) 2012 519-08
Fax:
+49 (721) 2012 519-98
E-mail: marketing@brandmaker.com