If a company successfully brings people to associate it with a very specific color, then the corporate brand managers have done something right at some point.
The blue used by Nivea works very well, for example. And there was great work done here at Deutsche Telekom, too. The color magenta makes a whole lot of people I know think of Deutsche Telekom. And not just people I know.
When deciding on our corporate color, brand recognition was a decisive factor. This works very well with the color magenta, which is eye-catching, active and dynamic. Back in the nineties, the color made us unique, because at that time no other company had used it. To make sure it stayed like that, we applied for trademark protection back then, which we received. Before the decision was made to go for magenta, extensive research was carried out into the prevalent colors in the Telekom brand environment. The colors blue (IBM, BMW) and petrol (Siemens) dominated at that time. Deutsche Post had kept yellow for itself. We wanted to set ourselves clearly apart from Deutsche Post, while at the same time staying away from the color spectrum used by established companies in the high-tech industry.
Magenta as a corporate color was revolutionary at the time. I am sure some people were shocked by our choice, but magenta has been socially acceptable for a long time now. Strong colors have found their way into wardrobes and homes, and many Deutsche Telekom employees are also fans. Magenta is part of their working day, and often part of their lives outside of work too. Anyone who wants to bring a little more magenta into their life, whether a Deutsche Telekom employee or not, will find just the thing in our new Love Magenta online store. The store offers fashion, accessories and a variety of gadgets in Deutsche Telekom's favorite color, sometimes with more magenta, sometimes with less. "We think that it is not just our employees who want stylish products in magenta, so the Love Magenta store is open to all," says Hans-Christian Schwingen, head of Group Brand Strategy at Deutsche Telekom.
All of the articles in the store were designed exclusively for Deutsche Telekom with careful attention to detail and strict quality requirements. There are T-shirts, rain jackets, scarves and socks, but also bags and coffee mugs. And shoppers can also do some good, too, for example with Soul Bottles, the sustainable alternative to single-use bottles. They are 100 percent recyclable and the taste-neutral glass bottles contain absolutely no plastics. In addition, for each bottle sold, one euro goes to the Viva con Agua water initiative. And our Triangle coffee cups, take-out coffee cups made of porcelain, provide an environmentally sound alternative to paper cups.
Take a look at Love Magenta, online, or at IFA in hall 21 A until September 7. Maybe you'll become a fan too.
