ConnectingChemistry: Brenntag branding goes global

After international expansion through organic growth and acquisition, Brenntag has launched “ConnectingChemistry” as a new strapline to support its global brand. Steve Holland, Brenntag’s CEO, explains the rationale behind the move

“ConnectingChemistry is our new global strapline and complements our brand identity”, Steve Holland, CEO of Brenntag, told all 13,500 company employees in an internal communication at the end of 2014. “It is intended to convey our core competences and reflect our ability to connect customers and suppliers in a winning partnership worldwide.”

Holland explains that he wants to create a more discernible identify for Brenntag. “We are well known in the chemical industry”, he explains, “but there are a lot of potential customers out there who are not as familiar with Brenntag and the products and services we provide.

“The new brand strapline captures in just two words what we do as a company and is applicable to our customers, suppliers and all other stakeholders.”

Holland believes the business model and beneficial functions of chemical distribution have developed and evolved significantly over recent years, and the full potential to create value in all parts of the supply chain continues to grow.

“In many different geographies the absolute requirement for delivery of excellent service on a local basis remains pivotal to the success of Brenntag’s value proposition. Clearly, there are differences throughout the world as we serve both developed and emerging business environments. And it is essential to modify and customise the local needs.”

Holland already sees appealing resonance with customers and suppliers when presenting ConnectingChemistry in all its facets.

Brenntag claims with confidence that it is the market leader in chemical distribution, with strong presences in Europe, North and Latin America and, increasingly in Asia Pacific. It pursues an ambitious growth strategy and has expanded in recent years through a combination of organic and very dynamic merger and acquisition activity.

For many the adoption of a global strapline underlines the continuous development of Brenntag not only as a local service provider through its 490 sites worldwide but also its ability to look across continents and “connect” many international customers and suppliers.

The branding comprises three elements: the ConnectingChemistry global strapline and identity is backed up by the company’s core values – safety first, leadership & accountability, employee involvement & ownership, commitment to excellence, integrity & responsibility and value creation for partners – and its unique selling proposition, defined as the specific offering that Brenntag makes to its customers and suppliers.

PART OF WIDER VISION
The new global branding, Holland adds, is part of a wider corporate initiative at Brenntag, dubbed 2020 Vision, which is a strategic guideline, that illustrates how Brenntag will position itself in the chemical distribution market in the long term in order to continue its successful development (see panel below).

The new strapline was introduced internally in Brenntag from last November and is now being rolled out externally through 2015.

Holland says: “The visibility of our new branding will progressively increase throughout this year and perhaps will be most noticeable on our fleet of over 2,000 vehicles worldwide.”

Hubertus Spethmann, head of Brenntag Group’s corporate communications department, adds: “Clearly, corporate branding is an extremely important element in promoting Brenntag’s values and qualities, and as such we will continuously review brand recognition in the years ahead.”

Brenntag’s business approach has been paying dividends for the company for some years. Last year Brenntag reported record highs for gross profit and operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), of around €2.03bn and €727m, respectively, on sales of €10.02bn, an increase over 2013 of 2.5% as reported and 3.2% when exchange rate effects are taken into account.

The outlook for 2015 is positive, says Holland, and further growth and improvement in earnings are expected.

“We are generally positive on the global economic picture. In Europe, we had a good year in 2014, managing reasonable growth and for the first half of 2015 we expect similar levels of performance. For the second half of the year, given the low oil price and the EU’s quantitative easing programme and weaker euro we expect some stimulation of the European economy by the summer time, leading to a more sustainable growth period, particularly for exporting companies.”

North America, he adds, is really interesting right now. With the dollar strengthening the region’s exports are in a more challenging environment. For North America, moderate GDP growth is expected.

In Latin America, Brenntag is cautiously optimistic, says Holland, as there are positive signs in Mexico and Colombia, but Brazil is uncertain due the currency valuation and lack of growth.

“The picture is mixed but we believe we are in a much better position now than in 2014.”

And for Asia Pacific, Brenntag’s smallest geographic unit, Holland says he is encouraged by the improving degree of stability in Thailand, strong growth in Vietnam and the business in China, where profits rose on a month-by-month basis in 2014 and “we have reason to expect this positive development to continue this year”.

The outlook overall, he commented this March in the company’s 2014 financial report, “shows clear signs of continuous improvement” for Brenntag’s business performance. “We will continue to make appropriate investments in existing infrastructure as well as growth projects.” Holland adds that the company’s acquisition programme will continue. “It is very active and we are keenly pursuing this part of our strategy.” He notes that €250m-worth of transactions are currently in serious discussions and due diligence, adding that the company has spent €1bn on M&A investments since 2007.

BRENNTAG’S 2020 VISION
We are the safest chemical distributor striving for zero accidents and incidents.

Throughout the world, we connect chemistry by proving the most effective industry channel for our customers and suppliers. We are the global leader in all our chosen markets and industries, offering the most professional sales & marketing organisation in the industry, ensuring consistently high standards every day, everywhere.

We strive to provide a working environment where the best people want to work.

We generate sustainable growth and returns for our shareholders and all other stakeholders.