Brenntag Specialties Europe
„Shared Values, Shared Success"
Brenntag Specialties Europe has positioned itself for success by initiating a broad image project.
An example of the new fair stand design: here we see the Brenntag Personal Care stand at InCosmetics 2008.
Photo: Brenntag
For several months now, Brenntag Specialties Europe has marketed itself with the slogan "Shared Values – Shared Success." Could you explain the key messages of this project? Hubertus Spethmann: In this project, we highlight for our business partners what Brenntag is today in the European specialty chemicals business and our performance edge: definitive market leadership in specialty chemicals distribution, outstanding teams of experts and a unique network allow our customers and suppliers to achieve long-range profitable growth. Brenntag also offers application consulting services, individual solutions and innovative marketing strategies across all country borders and product segments. Corporate Communications together with Brenntag Specialties Europe was commissioned with communicating and marketing the advantages of this highly successful model for the respective industries – making the most of our talents, so to speak. That sounds complex… Susanne Schnaufert: It is indeed. Authenticity is an elementary factor in identifying and successfully establishing a common image for the European specialty chemicals business. And this is a character trait that can be found in our employees. Some 200 European colleagues in Specialty and Industrial Chemicals helped initiate and shape the project from the bottom up. This is the only way we can ensure that an internally developed image manifests itself externally, with respect to our business partners. Special thanks are due to the European Business Development managers and all the colleagues who participated in the workshops with such dedication and intensity. We could not have achieved such a high quality without the tremendous support of the entire team. What does the image involve in concrete terms and what were the next steps you took? Claudia Barian: Initially, we were looking to develop a common image for Brenntag Specialties in Europe to unmistakably communicate Brenntag’s expertise as market leader. Over the course of various workshops with approximately 200 employees from all eight industries, in other words ACES, Personal Care, Food & Nutrition, Feed, Pharma, Cleaning, Water Treatment and Polymers, we identified three common values as cornerstones of the subsequent communication concept: Passion – People – Performance. Using these values as a guideline, we teamed with our business development managers to develop concrete content for the respective industries and implemented this content in the form of brochures, advertisements, product lists, websites and at fair stands. And how did "Shared Values – Shared Success" emerge as the slogan of the project? Susanne Schnaufert: The slogan "Shared Values – Shared Success" is the culmination of our common values of "Passion – People – Performance" and our core strengths in the domains of sourcing, technical expertise, sales and logistics. This slogan reflects all of these aspects: it is the declaration of a common goal uniting Brenntag Specialties Europe and helps eliminate the patchwork image we are often perceived to have in the market. Why does every publication feature a Brenntag Specialties logo? Claudia Barian: The Brenntag Specialties logo has already been deployed in the United States with great success. It thus made sense to use it in the image project for Europe. It visually emphasizes the position of Brenntag Specialties within the company and makes a distinctive impact in the market. What kind of challenges does one face in this type of project? Hubertus Spethmann: Sharpening the brand image of Brenntag Specialties Europe and achieving consistency within Europe are pretty much the greatest challenges. We work on this project daily, developing the next brochures, fair presentations, websites, advertisements and trade press interviews in a step-by-step manner, in close co-operation with the teams from the eight industries. Ultimately the image is defined by the people who transport the messages to the market on a daily basis.
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