The Hindu Business Line : DHL goes `all the way'

DHL India has a fleet of over 250 vehicles and service centres in over a dozen key cities across the country. The company's international network links more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. Its services can be accessed through the Internet too.

Thank you for calling ... "

"If you have an international accounting query please press one ... "

"For other queries please press two ... "

"I'm sorry. All our operators are busy right now. Please hold ... we will attend to your call as soon as possible ... "

"This call may be recorded for training purposes ... "

As the mechanised voice on the phone goes on in the background, time stands almost still ... in the garment factory for want of a piece of information from the other end.

Then the line "We know, your business won't wait" appears on screen ... followed by "Speak to a real person within three rings, every time."

That's one of the new TV commercials of the express and logistics company DHL.

The company recently launched its new branding initiative — All the Way — highlighting its key differentiators to showcase how its employees lend a personal touch to everyday situations.

"In DHL, we provide the human touch. There will be no annoying interactive voice responses used to answer phone calls from customers, which is a common feature across industries," says Chandrashekhar Pitre, Head-Marketing, DHL. "All customer calls to DHL are required to be answered within three rings," he adds.

Talking about the new campaign, Pitre says, "Having scaled up our supply chain efficiency, we believe it would be appropriate and logical to move up from our earlier tagline `No one knows Asia Pacific as good as we do' to the new tagline `All the Way'."

Customer focus

The campaign, being rolled out across the Asia Pacific region, aims to reinforce the company's tagline of going `All the Way' by demonstrating that DHL is committed to playing an integral role in customers' success.

"The campaign showcases facets of DHL's services, for example, our DHL Quality Control Centres that are located in all Asia Pacific markets and help us monitor all customer shipments, 24 hours a day, to ensure seamless delivery by anticipating problems," Pitre explains.

DHL, a wholly owned company of Deutsche Post World Net, began its India operations in 1979. "Today, we offer customers a spectrum of express services from international air express to high-end logistics solutions including some special services such as repair-and-return, strategic inventory management and direct express inventory."

Support activity

Pitre claims DHL is the only logistics solution company of its kind to have a 24-hour customer service call centre. DHL has also introduced customised solutions such as Jumbo Box, Junior Jumbo, Import Express and Fashion First for customers in the air express industry. "Our customers can also track and trace their consignments through email, SMS or the Internet and WAP phones," he adds.

Shipment tracking

DHL services can be accessed through the Internet too. For example, DHL Web Shipping is an online express shipping tool that helps customers prepare documents, book pick-ups, store contact details and track deliveries.

"We also have put in a network of quality control centres that monitor all DHL shipments in the air and on the ground around the clock to ensure seamless delivery of shipments by anticipating any potential problems," says Pitre.

The company claims to have handled 18.3 million kg in 6.8 million shipments in 2006, using close to 30 commercial flights a day.

According to Pitre, DHL has earmarked "a big budget" for the new ad campaign. It plans to release ads in 22 print publications and TV commercials to be aired on 34 channels, including regional channels, apart from ads on FM radio and OOH media.

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