Dieter Zetsche

Dieter Zetsche
Dieter Zetsche at IAA 2009
Born	May 5, 1953 (1953-05-05) (age 58) Istanbul, Turkey
Residence	Stuttgart
Nationality	German
Ethnicity	German
Alma mater	University of Karlsruhe, University of Paderborn
Occupation	Engineer, Businessman Chairman of Daimler AG (2006-)
Predecessor	Jürgen E. Schrempp (as Chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG)
Spouse	Gisele Zetsche (m. 1982)
Children	3; 1 daughter
Parents	Herbert Zetsche

Dieter Zetsche (born on May 5, 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German businessman and the Chairman of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars since 2006 as well as member of the company's Board of Management since 1998.

He was born while his father, Herbert Zetsche, a civil engineer, was temporarily in Turkey for a dam construction project. The family returned to Germany in 1956. Dieter Zetsche attended school in Oberursel (near Frankfurt am Main) and studied electrical engineering from 1971 to 1976 at the University of Karlsruhe; he graduated as an engineer.

He joined Daimler-Benz in 1976, working in the research department. In 1981, he became Assistant Development Manager at the Vehicles business unit. He completed his doctorate in engineering in 1982 at the University of Paderborn.

He became a member of the DaimlerChrysler's Board of Management in 1998 and served the President/CEO of Chrysler Group from mid of 2000 to December 31, 2005, where he was credited with a turnaround of DCX's American operations. Since January 1, 2006, he succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as Chairman of DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG), being succeeded in the position of Chrysler Group CEO by Thomas W. LaSorda.

He was the main influence behind the demerger of Daimler and Chrysler in 2007, which ended in the newly formed Daimler AG.

Dieter Zetsche is credited with bringing significant core changes to the Mercedes-Benz company in an effort to turn around a decade long downward spiral in product quality and customer satisfaction. He was named in Time Magazine's 2006's list of 100 most influential people.

Ask Dr. Z campaign

Chrysler headquarters advertising the website "AskDrZ.com"

On June 30, 2006, Chrysler Group announced the Employee Pricing Plus program, which featured Dieter Zetsche as Dr. Z, the DaimlerChrysler spokesman for a series of United States and Canadian television commercials,^[1][2] also animated in cartoon format on the company's Ask Dr. Z website, which began on July 1.

The "Ask Dr. Z" campaign included television, radio, print, online^[3], in-dealership and customer relationship marketing media components and aggressive marketing tactics (mobile billboards, aerial banners, street teams), as well as targeting the NASCAR fan community. In the "Ask Dr. Z" ad campaign he provides answers to customers' questions and exits by saying "Auf Wiedersehen" (German for "See you later").

The ad campaign emphasized the consumer benefits of the best of American and German engineering and design built into every Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicle. One included Zetsche riding in a Jeep Liberty crossing a pile of logs, another showed him at the trunk of a Dodge Caravan minivan heading a soccer ball, and the last showed him at the wheel of a Chrysler Pacifica when it undergoes a crash test where he emerges from the wreckage unscathed.^{[4] [5]}

As a response of shrinking sales, the Employee Pricing Plus program was extended through the end of August, 3 new TV ads, which did not feature Dr. Z, were added to the August campaign.^[6] After 3 months however DaimlerChrysler hurriedly withdrew the Dr. Z campaign due to a significant loss in market-share. However, some of the Dr. Z ads can still be seen in Canadian television. In later broadcasts, the tagline in Dr. Z TV ads was changed to 'See the best in German and North American design in your Dodge and Chrysler dealer.'

The campaign was criticized for having a wrong guy to do funny ads.^[7] CNW Marketing Research poll showed most people thought Dr. Z was a fictional character, did not notice the employee discount offer in the ads and radio commercial listeners had a difficulty understanding his German accent.^{[4] [8]}

Awards

Dieter Zetsche was awarded as "Entrepreneur of the year" in 2008 from the German media.^[9]

References

1. ^ Clark, Andrew. "Svengali-like Dr Z - the unlikely star of Daimler's TV ad campaign in US. " The Guardian. Accessed on 11 August 2006.
2. ^ Chrysler Group Turns Up the Heat with Employee Pricing Plus for All Customers
3. ^ "DaimlerChrysler AskDrZ.com “The Doctor Is In” 300×250 w/ Dieter Zetsche". adverlicio.us. http://adverlicio.us/daimlerchrysler-askdrz-com-doctor-300x250/. Retrieved 2011-09-25. 
4. ^ ^{a b} [1]
5. ^ [2]
6. ^ Why, Dr. Z, Why? Chrysler's ad campaign flops despite employee pricing for all
7. ^ The Trouble With Dr. Z
8. ^ Is Chrysler's "Dr. Z" campaign a flop?
9. ^ FINANZEN-Nacht 2008: Dieter Zetsche ist Unternehmer des Jahres

External links

• Dr. Dieter Zetsche at Daimler
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Dieter Zetsche at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Dieter Zetsche in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Dieter Zetsche collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Persondata
Name	Zetsche, Dieter
Alternative names
Short description	German businessman
Date of birth	May 5, 1953
Place of birth	Istanbul, Turkey
Date of death
Place of death