Business Stationery

Well-designed letterheads, business cards and forms provide the addressee with a sense of trust in the sender and must be produced to an appropriately high standard of quality. For reasons of space, the raising principle is not applied on business stationery. To ensure effective functionality and correct application in business stationery, an identification system has been developed for all subsidiaries bearing Daimler as part of their company name as follows: They must add information to their business stationery in accordance with commercial and company law in their respective countries.

LetterheadLetterhead
Cut-size sheet of paper preprinted on one side for private or business correspondence. Normally in ...

The standard letterhead is the central element of business stationary. It consists of individual modules which are clearly defined while offering sufficient flexibility for adaptations to country-specific standards, such as address field at top right. 

Key element of the letterhead is the Daimler logotype, which is produced in silver using a hot-foil embossing, with the silver brushing area. The Daimler logotype appears on all letterheads and other business stationery in a width of 45 mm and is always placed to the left. The company name of the subsidiary always appears as sender at top left in black, under the brushing area. Contact details and information relating to commercial or company law information are printed black, and these all are set in the typeface Daimler CS.

Header on letterhead of a Daimler Group company

The footer of the standard letterhead contains all information required by commercial and corporate law, the sender’s full address and communication details. The footer is always structured from the bottom to the top.

Business Cards

Apart from identifying the holder as an employee at a Daimler name-bearing subsidiary, the business card also represents the company. As such, the design is not an expression of personal taste and individual creativity, but is binding for all employees. It contains only the holder’s personal details, with no additional content, such as advertising.

The brushing area in a special color always covers the entire face of a business card. The Daimler logotype is positioned in the center in silver, using a hot-foil embossing process. In the case of subsidiaries, the company name is positioned in white below the Daimler logotype. 

Front side of a business card with the Daimler logotype and the name of a subsidiary.

All information on the reverse side is printed in black on a white background. An academic degree can optionally be positioned under the name. The unit designation or job function is placed below this, and is limited to two lines.

Communication details comprise a maximum of eight lines. These are left-justified and structured from bottom to top. An additional street address may optionally be added to the right of the first three lines of the communication details. 

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Reverse side of business cards with academic degree [1] and without academic degree including an optional street address [2].

Printed Forms

Forms which are similarly important to letterheads are likewise produced with brushing in a special color including the Daimler logotype in silver using a hot-foil embossing process.

Many units also use carbon-copy forms, e.g. for order forms, delivery notes or shipping documents. For production-related reasons, these forms are not printed with brushing and the Daimler logotype only appears in black. The size and position of the logotype are identical to the letterhead. This rule also applies to forms that are printed directly from a software application.

Production Instructions

All business stationery is printed in black using the typeface Daimler CS. Standard letterheads are printed on Enviro Clever U recycled paper, 80 g/m². At Daimler name-bearing subsidiaries, Board of Management letterheads are printed on Enviro Clever U, 120 g/m². The second page of the standard letterhead is unprinted, white and in the same quality of paper. Enviro Clever U, 300 g/m², is used for business cards. Compliment cards are printed on 250 g/m², Enviro Clever U.

Print Finishing and Enhancement
Business stationery is printed with a silver background (special color PantonePantone
The Pantone matching system (PMS) consists of spot colors (“special colors”) from Pantone LLC. 10077) on which the hot-foil embossed Daimler logotype is placed. The brushing structure is then printed in black on the silver background. In this process, it should be ensured that the black brushing is not printed on the silver background until the silver background is dry. A corresponding drying time must be allowed for. The Daimler logotype is produced in an enhanced print with a gloss level of “glossy” using a hot-foil embossing technique. All other information shown on the business stationery is printed in black.

Envelopes
Envelopes are produced without a silver background and brushing, due to post-office regulations. The Daimler logotype is produced in monochrome black. Envelopes are made from Enviro Clever U recycled paper.

Fax Forms
Fax forms are created directly on the computer. They are thus printed without brushing. The Daimler logotype is in black. If the fax form is used not only as a cover sheet, but in the form of a business letter instead, the footer must also include the information required under corporate law.

Stamps
Due to poor reproduction quality, the use of images, such as vehicle vignettes etc., in stamps is to be avoided. For this reason, the Daimler logotype does not appear in stamps and the subsidiary’s company name is reproduced as a typographical composition. The plates of franking machines likewise contain only text information and no images. The content of the stamps is set in Daimler CS Regular. The font sizeFont Size
The unit of measurement for the font size is the point (pt). is 18 pt for the company name and 14 pt for the location name.

Guideline for Written Correspondence and Signatory Rights

Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s policy for written correspondence and signature rights includes instructions regarding the different types and scopes of powers of attorney and signature rights. The use of powers of attorney and signature rights in conventional and electronic correspondence is also governed.

Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s signature policy (domestic):
https://erd.app.corpintra.net/ERD/Home/RuleProfile/81980
(internally accessible only)