Business Superbrands- 2nd edition(Main)
8/27/08
Market
The international air express market of a
country is often considered to be the
barometer of its international trade. In India’s
changed dynamics and its increasing brand
exposure to the international markets one
name is constantly called upon to deliver: DHL.
DHL is the face of this resurgent India. As
the country’s economic dimensions change,
DHL keeps pace with the demands made upon
it. Today, DHL India services over 40,000
customers through its nationwide network of
over 200 service and express centres, 250
vehicles, 5 gateways and over 1500 employees.
These multi-million Euro investments have
been made to ensure that India receives the
same world-class service that DHL provides to
a customer anywhere else in the world. With
global expertise in solutions, express, overland,
transport, air and ocean freight, DHL has a
presence in over 220 countries and employee
strength of 300,000. But what makes DHL
truly unique to its customers is its deep
understanding of domestic markets and
local nuances.
Achievements
Quite simply, DHL invented the air
express industry in 1969 in San
Francisco. Since then, it simply
hasn’t looked back. From being
awarded The World’s Most Global
Company by the Global Finance
Magazine in 1998 to being
recognised as the brand that
virtually all Fortune 500
companies rely upon, is an
exceptional achievement.
DHL continues to be the only
air express company in India to
offer a 24-hours-a-day-7-days-aweek customer service toll free
helpline for instant tracking of
shipments. Another first for it is
the multiple tracking options.
48
SUPERBRANDS
3:25 AM
Page 48
These include the internet, e-mail,
SMS and even WAP phones. To
support these options DHL has
created a number of proprietary
tracking tools such as DHL Easy
Ship, SMS Track, E-Track, Web Track
and a shipment management tool
called DHL Connect.
As a testimony to its superior
customer service and market
leading performance, DHL India has
won several accolades and awards.
For the second
consecutive
year, DHL has
received
the Avaya
GlobalConnect
Award 2007 for
being the most
Customer
Responsive
Company in the
logistics
industry. In recognition of its
consistently high standards
of service, DHL was
awarded the Frost & Sullivan
Voice of Customer award in
2005, 2006 and 2007 for
Best International Logistics
Company and for the Best
Brand Awareness in the Industry.
documentation by air between San Francisco
and Honolulu so that the papers arrived at
customs offices before the freight and enabled
goods to be cleared at greater speed. This move
laid the foundation for the international air
express industry.
In India the industry came nine years later
when Bruce Walker, an employee of DHL
Singapore, reached Mumbai to service Brown &
Root, a British company building pipelines for
ONGC. In the twenty months that it took
Brown & Root to complete the assignment,
DHL had acquired a few
more clients and built an
operation, big enough for
the company’s sustained
presence in India. In 1979,
DHL India formally
commenced operations.
Since then it has never lost
its first-mover advantage. In
fact for DHL, India is one of
its top seven operations in
the Asia-Pacific region.
By 2002, Bonnheadquartered Deutsche
Post World Net (DPWN)
had merged the services of
all its express and logistics
brands under the DHL
umbrella and had acquired
100% stake in the company.
History
DHL India has consistently pioneered innovative
products and revolutionised the way the
industry does business. With a pulse on
changing market needs, DHL India has evolved a
comprehensive range of products and services
that now serve as the industry benchmark.
Express Worldwide is the most well-known
DHL product for documents, parcels and freight,
facilitating the fastest deliveries to thousands
of customers. DHL Jumbo and Jumbo Junior
boxes and Express Pallet offer cost-effective
solutions to exporters.
Two other services, Express
Worldwide and Import Express
Worldwide have simplified exports and
imports. Each is a single-window solution
that provides the customer with one
account number – to bill all shipments
irrespective of the destination; one invoice –
to avoid multiple invoicing from different agents
and one currency – which makes the cost of
conducting business completely transparent –
all inclusive, at a pre-agreed price and in
Indian Rupees.
In upping the ante for the industry, DHL
launched a state-of-the-art Worldwide Medical
Express (WMX) service in 2004. WMX is a
temperature-controlled logistics solution
designed to specifically meet the needs of
the pharmaceutical and life sciences
industries in India.
The integrated efforts of
DHL’s India research
team have
resulted in the
On 25th September 1969, just weeks after man
had first stepped on the moon, DHL was
incorporated by three friends, Adrian Dalsey,
Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn. In the
beginning, the
three partners
delivered
shipping
Product
Business Superbrands- 2nd edition(Main)
8/27/08
3:25 AM
Page 49
facilities holds an envious position
amongst logistics players. This has been
replicated in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai
and Kolkata. In a joint venture with
Lufthansa Cargo, DHL operates its own
freighter aircraft. The freighter offers
direct connectivity for DHL shipments
from India to Europe – and vice versa.
In order to increase reach and
accessibility to individual consumers,
DHL has invested in a chain of
nationwide Retail Express Centres,
instantly recognisable by the bright red
and yellow brand colours. Recently
the100th such centre was inaugurated in
Vellayambalam, Kerala. These convenient
walk-in facilities are open seven days a
week and cater to the needs of both
individuals and SMEs.
Promotion
brand also becoming the preferred choice
of students going abroad for higher education.
DHL University Express provides students
with a hassle-free opportunity to send their
university applications abroad – even as it
offers a host of exciting benefits.
DHL Mango Express is yet another
innovation aimed at ‘taking a little bit of India
to those abroad.’ This service offers customers
a chance to gift ripe-in-time Alphonso mangoes
to their business associates overseas at
discounted rates.
Express 9 and Express 12 are services that
guarantee door-to-door delivery of the most
urgent shipments by the second business day to
major business destinations in the Asia-Pacific
region, the Middle East and Europe. This service
comes with a complete money back guarantee.
Another value-added service facilitated by
DHL is Shipper’s Interest Insurance (SII).
This service in association with Tata AIG
provides door-to-door insurance protection
of shipments against physical loss or damage
from an external cause. Beyond reliability of
delivery, this service is an assurance that almost
nothing is left to chance.
Recent Developments
DHL has made considerable investments in a
state-of-the-art Quality Control Centre (QCC)
in Mumbai. The QCC provides real-time tracking
data from shipment pickup to final delivery. The
impressive on-airport express terminal at the
New Delhi International airport with its own inhouse x-ray screening and customs clearance
Back in the 1980s, DHL became the first
company in the air express business to
advertise on television. It built its brand
around the humorous Cat-and-Budgie
campaign promoting DHL’s worldwide
reach and the much-loved Jumbo
campaign of the 1990s promoting the
Jumbo Box and ease of air freight. To this day,
nearly a quarter of a century later, the
campaigns continue to be fondly recalled. In
2003, soon after its merger with the DPWN
network, DHL changed its brand colours from
red-on-white to red-on-yellow.
DHL Import Express campaign with its
core proposition ‘We Make Importing Simple’
broke in April 2005 and has been seen in most
major dailies, business magazines and trade
publications. A multi-media campaign titled ‘No
One Knows Asia Pacific Like We Do’ enjoyed
high popularity, with its charming depiction of
DHL’s intimate knowledge of the markets in the
Asia-Pacific region. In 2006, DHL partnered with
Paramount
Pictures for the
making of the Tom
Cruise-starrer
blockbuster,
Mission Impossible
III through its role
as the Official
Shipping and
Logistics Partner.
To promote the
partnership, DHL
ran a high visibility
TV campaign with
the tagline
‘Accepting
Impossible
Missions Daily.’
In 2007, DHL
changed its tagline
to the wildly
successful ‘All the Way’. In the true spirit of
a pioneer seeking adventure and challenge,
DHL sponsors Formula 1 motor racing
championships as well as International Fashion
Weeks across the world. In India, DHL is the
logistics sponsor for the Delhi as well as the
Mumbai Marathons. In partnership with CNBC
TV18 the brand has also instituted the DHL
International Trade Awards to honour business
leaders in the import and export arenas.
DHL customers are beneficiaries of one of
the longest running loyalty programmes in India
– the Stripes Club.
Brand Values
DHL’s operations emphasise on safety, security,
health, ethics and protection of cultural diversity
and conservation of the environment. With
people, community and environment at the
core of the company’s corporate citizenship
philosophy, DHL the brand stands as a true
synonym for integrity and commitment.
It puts its logistics expertise to credible use
by mobilising resources and managing disaster in
affected areas. The challenge is a daunting one
and fully tests the company’s abilities. But
because lives are at stake, DHL pulls out all
stops to provide succour and relief. The DHL
Red Cross School, set up in Tamil Nadu, came
to the rescue of 500 students in the tsunami
struck area. With the SOS Children’s villages,
DHL is caring for 300 tsunami orphans in a
village near Pondicherry. More recently, the DHL
Deliver Help Drive was initiated to mobilise
resources from Mumbai to the poor and needy
in rural and urban slums of India.
Taking environmental concerns seriously, DHL
in a self-imposed, time-bound programme
launched a Go Green campaign in 2007. Over
150 DHL vehicles have already been converted
to LPG with the rest to follow suit. Under
Plantlife – a major green cover project – over
500 trees have been planted in the protected
environs of Mysore.
www.dhl.co.in
THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
DHL
DHL derives its name from Dalsey, Hillblom
and Lynn – the three friends who started the
company way back in 1969
The 3-striped red-and-yellow DHL logo has
become synonymous with the brand’s winning
virtues: speed, safety, reliability and worldwide
reach
In keeping with the company’s ‘first in last out’
philosophy, DHL was the first air express
company to resume operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, soon after the wars in these
countries ended
DHL publishes a popular, monthly trade paper,
India Trade Outlook, compiled and edited by
Dun & Bradstreet
Worldwide, more than 300 aircraft operate for
or on behalf of DHL
In India, DHL was the first company in the
logistics industry to offer around-the-clock,
around-the-year call centre service
SUPERBRANDS
49