Mercedes-Benz is merging its global marketing and communications activities into one unit under the leadership of Bettina Fetzer, the automaker’s marketing boss.
The aim of the realignment is to have a uniform global presence for the Mercedes corporate brand and its product brands, the automaker said in a statement.
A Mercedes spokesperson said the auto industry has been in a state of upheaval since the COVID-19 pandemic and the company wanted to be able to react more flexibly and dynamically internationally to changing situations.
“At a time when real and digital worlds are increasingly merging, the interlinking of communicative activities is not only contemporary, but essential,” the spokesperson told Automotive News Europe by email.
The reorganization follows a new strategy announced by CEO Ola Kallenius in October aimed at a stronger luxury positioning for the Mercedes brand, along with significant growth for subbrands such as Maybach, AMG and the G-Class, and accelerated development of electric drive and vehicle software.
In the statement, Fetzer said: “Our strategic realignment requires a globally consistent brand identity more than ever.”
The creation of global marketing content is being coordinated at the headquarters of Mercedes and its parent Daimler in Stuttgart.
As part of the changes, Daimler’s head of communications, Joerg Howe, will move to the company’s trucks unit as special representative for external affairs and communications, effective July 1. The move is timed to coincide with the planned stock-exchange listing of the Daimler truck and bus business as an independent company.
