Third-Party Advertising
When has a brand reached lasting fame? One indication is when others want to use it for their own purposes. This applies not only to society, but also to advertisement practices.
The content of the “Daimler Brand & Design Navigator” online portal applies to activities of subsidiaries with Daimler as part of their company name (according to Corporate Design Guideline A 33.1). For more information on the CI/CD set of rules for Daimler Truck AG, please visit the “Daimler Truck Design Navigator” online portal.
When has a brand reached lasting fame? One indication is when others want to use it for their own purposes. This applies not only to society, but also to advertisement practices.
When has a brand reached lasting fame? One indication is when others want to use it for their own purposes. This applies not only to society, but also to advertisement practices. The esteem of a brand becomes apparent whenever third parties want to use it in their advertising, either by prominently displaying the brand markBrand Mark
The visual depiction of a brand in the form of a logo and/or mark designation. or by casually mentioning names or products. The next logical question is: What can we allow and what must be prohibited? Of course, there are always those cases as well where advertising by third parties is beneficial to us or the interests of individual group brands.
The following information is intended to help employees from Daimler name-bearing subsidiaries within the Mercedes-Benz Group AG respond to any requests for permission to use brand names, brand marks, images, or other brand-related resources. The examples we will go into here do not cover all imaginable cases since they focus mainly on the Mercedes-Benz brand as well as on all product brands belonging to Mercedes-Benz Group. If you have any doubts, please address your questions to the Mercedes-Benz Group’s legal department.
What Exactly Is Third-Party Advertising?
Generally, there are two kinds of unacceptable third-party advertising:
1. Design Imitation (“Passing-off”)
Product A is positioned so closely to another well-known product in its design, advertising, etc. that the consumer is given the impression that in purchasing product A, he has actually bought product B.
2. Exploitation of Another's Reputation
The advertised product A is connected to product B either by literally placing the two next to one another or by association. The objective is to transfer the esteem in which product B is held to product A.
In situations such as these, products A and B may originate from within the same industry (for example, automobiles) or from different industries (for example, watches and automobiles). These types of advertising arise very often in connection with Mercedes-Benz Group’s products. Courts take these issues seriously. For example, a lawsuit was filed in Germany after a whiskey company used the Rolls-Royce brand mark and radiator grille without permission in its whiskey advertisement. The German Federal Court of Justice decision in this case permits us to derive the following principle:
Any advertisement implemented by third parties that refers to our products and exploits the reputation of Daimler is unfair (cf. Section 3 of the German law against unfair advertising practices). It does not conform to the rules of competition based on performance when other advertisers use our reputation instead of advertising their products on their own merits. In such cases, others profit from the esteem for which we have worked hard for years and at considerable cost. We have adopted this – undisputed – interpretation of the law and apply it strictly.
Pictorial Advertising
Individual cases of unacceptable third-party advertising:
| Unacceptable | Acceptable |
| 1. The isolated use of our brand marks and brand names in whatever kind of form, including similar logos or names that could be mistaken for one of ours. | |
| 2. Presentation of flags, banners or the like with a separate Daimler logotype or the logotype in combination with the name of a name-bearing subsidiary within the Mercedes-Benz Group. | |
| 3. Depictions filling the entire imageImage The publicly perceived image of a company, brand, product or service. Determined primarily by ... or the page and serving as an eye-catcher of, for example, Mercedes-Benz vehicles; this especially includes images of free-standing vehicles and their depiction from the front, at an angle from the front, from the back, at an angle from the back, with brand marks of Mercedes-Benz Group’s products visible in each case (when the brand marks of Mercedes-Benz Group’s products are not visible, this third-party advertising is acceptable provided that our vehicles are not shown in a “mutilated” state due to the brand marks being retouched). |
3. Depictions of vehicles that represent only a minor part of the overall image and are thus not its focal point; vehicle is a non-eye-catching part of a composition; brand marks of Mercedes-Benz Group may not be placed in the foreground. Side views of trucks are permissible if no Mercedes-Benz Group’s brand marks are to be seen, not even on the hubcaps. Presentation of vehicles with brands of Mercedes-Benz Group, if used in conjunction with wheel/tire advertising, with a view to relating the esthetic impact of the product. |
| 4. Depictions of our vehicles' interiors or dashboards, including the steering wheels, with any brand marks recognizable, e. g. the star on the hood. | 4. Depictions of a vehicle's interior, the engine compartment, the trunk, side elevations of the engine in graphical drawings on which no brand mark of Mercedes-Benz Group can be seen. |
| 5. Depictions of vehicles, including line drawings of vehicles (exception: vehicle contours), for commercial purposes; for example, on business documents, on websites, or as part of multimedia presentations. | 5. Depictions of vehicles, interior and exterior view, of graphics or diagrams on which Mercedes-Benz Group’s brand marks are recognizable may be included in informational literature (automotive technology), schoolbooks (illustrations), in press articles and on television to the extent that this does not affect any interests of confidentiality. Depictions used in advertising of Mercedes-Benz will be made available to third parties only if the communications departments responsible for such cases feel that this could be useful for the brand. |
| 6. Depiction of Mercedes-Benz plants (Mercedes-Benz and others including Mercedes-Benz Group’s headquarters) in which our brand marks figure prominently. | 6. Depiction of supplier production plants installed in Mercedes-Benz plants without any brand marks of Mercedes-Benz Group being pictured. It is permissible to refer to Mercedes-Benz Group in the accompanying copy. |
| 7. Depictions of hubcaps, spare parts, equipment (technical/non-technical), and accessories, such as steering wheels, floor mats, key chains or polishing cloths, as eye-catchers, in each instance bearing our brand marks. | 7. A tire is shown in the direct surroundings of the vehicle. The focus is clearly directed at that tire. It is not detrimental if an interested layperson can recognize that the vehicle is a Mercedes-Benz vehicle. |
| 8. Depictions showing our brand marks and parts numbers in an eye-catching manner. | |
| 9. Depictions of vintage vehicles that directly relate to Mercedes-Benz Group’s image. | 9. Depiction of vintage vehicles (old-timers), for example as an illustration of the “good old days”. |
| 10. Depictions of Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in a way that directly relates to Mercedes-Benz Group's image. | 10. Depictions of Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in a way that exclusively refers to them as inventors. |
Advertising Text
Individual cases of unacceptable third-party advertising:
| Unacceptable | Acceptable |
| 1. Plagiarism or modification, even if only in part, of advertisement copy or slogans of the Mercedes-Benz brand. The original: “Mercedes — engineered like no other car in the world.” Changes: “Engineered like no other vehicle in the world”; “Brewed like no other beer. Anywhere in the world.” (Advertisement for an alcoholic beverage). | |
| 2. Reference on the packaging to the fact that Mercedes-Benz has approved certain products. Example: “'XYZ' oil, approved for use pursuant to Mercedes-Benz specifications for service products, page...“ | |
| 3. “The Mercedes of office machinery, washing machines, computers”, etc. | |
| 4. A text – only reference, not formatted as an eye-catcher – where a supplier delivers certain parts to Mercedes-Benz AG for installation in certain products; no brand marks of Mercedes-Benz Group may be visible. | |
| 5. A text – only reference, not formatted as an eye-catcher – where a supplier has installed specific equipment in our plants; no brand marks of Mercedes-Benz Group may be used. | |
| 6. Reference to Daimler name-bearing subsidiary in an alphabetically sorted list of client references. Under the letter “D”, the Daimler name-bearing subsidiary within the Mercedes-Benz Group may be quoted. Please note: Eye-catching highlighting with the subsidiary name is not permitted. |
Reference Inquiries from Third Parties
Citing Daimler name-bearing subsidiaries as a reference is a specific form of third-party advertising. The Daimler logotype is not used in such cases; only the subsidiary’s company name is reproduced in mixed typeset (text in capitals and small letters). The Daimler logotype is reserved for publications, events, trade show displays and web pages initiated by Daimler name-bearing companies.
If a supplier/service provider is to cite a Daimler name-bearing subsidiary within Mercedes-Benz Group AG as a reference in a brochure, on a website or at a trade show, the citation essentially has to take the form of depicting the subsidiary’s company name in mixed typeset (capitals and small letters) in the company typeface used by the supplier/service provider. Highlighting the designation of the Daimler name-bearing subsidiary by means of color or other stylistic methods is not allowed. Different companies should preferably be listed in alphabetical order.
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Mercedes-Benz AG
Mercedesstraße 120
70372 Stuttgart, Germany
Phone +49 7 11 17-0
dialog@mercedes-benz.com
Represented by the Board of Management: Ola Källenius (Chairman), Jörg Burzer, Renata Jungo Brüngger, Sabine Kohleisen, Markus Schäfer, Britta Seeger, Hubertus Troska, Harald Wilhelm
Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Bernd Pischetsrieder
Court of Registry: Stuttgart, Commercial Register No.: 762873
VAT Registration Number: DE321281763
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