Deutsche Post - the Postal Service for Germany
Evolution of the Deutsche Post logo
Deutsche Post delivers Germany's mail - on average around 72 million items each day, six days per week. It is number one on the German mail market and is among the most well known brands in Germany. Its history, reaching back more than 500 years, places it among the brands with the richest traditions in Germany. Moreover, the Deutsche Post horn may be one of the oldest trademarks in this country.
1490
It began in 1490: Franz von Taxis established a courier network on behalf of the Hapsburg family dynasty and its complex family tree. He had postal stations built, each a day's travel from the next across all of Western Europe. It was at this time that the Deutsche Post trademark literally made its appearance: postilion riders announced their arrival, and the pending change of horses, by sounding their mail horn. The visionary family of Thurn and Taxis secured for themselves at that time not only the right to transport mail but also in 1507 the exclusive use of the mail horn as a trademark.
The nineteenth century
In the nineteenth century, the number of couriers on horseback dropped. Coaches supplanted them in the beginning, followed later by trains. The sign of the mail horn was still used, however, on flags, stamps, mail boxes and postage stamps. For Thurn and Taxis, the symbol originally served to identify couriers as legitimate postilions; now it stood for the German national postal organization. Starting in 1947, this organization became the Deutsche Bundespost, the German federal postal service. In addition to delivering letters and parcels as well as banking services, the postal horn at that time also stood for a company that provided citizens with telephone services.
The mid-1990s
In the mid-1990s, Deutsche Bundespost was split into three companies: Postbank, Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Post. Deutsche Post was subsequently privatized and went public in 2000. With the acquisition and integration of international express and logistics brands like DHL, Danzas and Exel, the company became the world leader in the mail, express and logistics industry of the third millennium.
Since 2009
The Group has gone by the name of Deutsche Post DHL since 2009 and presents itself as two strong brands: the DHL brand for the worldwide express and logistics business and the Deutsche Post brand representing a national mail business rich in tradition in Germany. Today, the black horn against the yellow background stands for a modern service that defines itself in terms of three central brand elements.
Three core brand elements
Three core brand elements of Deutsche Post
The first is close proximity: Like no other brand, Deutsche Post and its employees are there for their customers. Some 80,000 mail carriers reach every household in Germany six days a week. Two to three million people a day visit approximately 14,000 Deutsche Post retail outlets. New, innovative concepts like our "Post 24/7" service island make our products and services available today 24 hours a day and seven days per week.
The second corel brand element is our reliable quality. Many people entrust Deutsche Post with items that they would not give to neighbors or even friends. Anyone who has ever sent a letter to a court or a job application knows that each mailbox is as secure as the next and every letter is delivered quickly and reliably. In short, the Deutsche Post brand stands for binding, reliable and confidential mail, regardless of whether it is traditional mail in envelopes or modern online letters like the purely electronic E-Postbrief.
The third component of the Deutsche Post brand is its groundbreaking products and services. We keep the most up-to-date mail business solutions ready for any and all the requirements of our customers. New products like Handyporto postage, Internetmarke online stamps, Plusbrief Individuell, Adressdialog as well as the Premiumadress service create new and particularly effective communications opportunities for private and business customers. The groundbreaking E-Postbrief unites the features of the traditional letter with the easy handling of e-mail.
Deutsche Post is the postal service for Germany. By making solutions even more simple, products even more sustainable and customer service even more friendly, the company intends to maintain its brand position and grow ever further by offering totally new ideas for online communications.
