How Deutsche Post is making decisions on what to sponsor

Being an official series sponsor of German Touring Cars (DTM), health having initiated the rookie program “Deutsche Post Speed Academy” and having recently signed several other sponsorships in German motor sports, asthma it is interesting to see, check how the decision process of what to sponsor is going on at Deutsche Post.

According to the project manager of “Deutsche Post Speed Academy”, the concern initiated a comprehensive market and media research and found out that motor sports is the sport that fits to the brand, as it is associated with speed, reliability and teamwork. And these are exactly the characteristics that Deutsche Post wants to be associated with.

They furthermore found out that 40 million Germans know DTM and 7.5 million Germans would consider themselves as being fans of DTM. Despite of CO2 discussions and environmental issues, automotive topics are still on the agenda in Germany and motor sports are seen as the precursor for cutting-edge alternative technologies.

The decision process at Deutsche Post, however, above all took some time and included not only the communications departments, but also sales. Deutsche Post has realized that a sponsorship commitment needs to be more than branding and media values. Especially, as Deutsche Post is known by almost 95% of the German population.

The motor sports platforms are furthermore used in all communication channels, e. g. with the publication of the quarterly motor sports newspaper “Speed News” and the more lifestyle-oriented magazine “Faszination Speed” that comes out twice per year and is distributed to 2.5 million households in Germany.

The sponsorship commitment also includes a corporate social responsibility program. With the rookie program “Deutsche Post Speed Academy”, the company supports 7 offspring drivers in different race series on and off the track. The candidates receive media and personality trainings as well as consulting concerning their driving skills. The program already supported talents such as Nico Hülkenberg and Adrian Sutil and F1 racer Timo Glock is part of the jury.

At the DTM races, Deutsche Post uses its “DTM Business Lounge powered by Deutsche Post” in order to invite customers and prospects to business talks and meetings. Of course, talks don’t only include business, but are also enriched with a tour through the paddock and some emotions in order to intensify the relationship between the sales person and the customer.

Although the motor sports commitment of Deutsche Post obviously means a lot of fun, it also has to deliver the respective results. Deutsche Post continuously tracks the success by measuring new business, brand-fit, target group fit, media reach and the networking and new business potential.