Discover

'Dr. Dieter Zetsche' (also known as 'Dr. Z') (born on May 5, 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is the Chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG and Head of Mercedes Car Group since 2006 as well as member of the company's Board of Management since 1998.
The family returned to Germany in 1956. He 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 board in 1998, some time after that he became CEO and on January 1, 2006, succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as Chairman (leaving the postion of CEO). On August 5, 2007, Thomas W. LaSorda, who previously succeeded Zetsche as CEO in 2006, moved up to succeed him as Chairman with Robert Nardelli taking over the CEO duties.
He was the main influence behind the merger between Chrysler and Daimler-Benz to form DaimlerChrysler.
Zetsche was named in ''Time Magazine's 2006's list of 100 most influential people.

Contents

Ask Dr. Z campaign

Notes

External links

Ask Dr. Z campaign

In 2006-06-30, 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 2006-07-01.
The "Ask Dr. Z" campaign included television, radio, print, online, in-dealership and customer relationship marketing media components and guerilla 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 with 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.
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.^[3] 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^[4]. 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.^[5]

Notes

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. Why, Dr. Z, Why? Chrysler's ad campaign flops despite employee pricing for all
4. The Trouble With Dr. Z
5. Is Chrysler's "Dr. Z" campaign a flop?

External links

★ http://www.askdrz.com/

★ http://www.askdrz.ca/

★ Dieter Zetsche page on DaimlerChrysler's homepage

★ Press release for Ask Dr. Z campaign