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The Origins of the Mercedes-Benz Brand and the Three-Pointed Star

A company's brand name and trademark are symbolic. They embrace everything - the products, the services, and the company itself.
A trademark encapsulates brand image in concise form, communicating important information about the company and the people behind it.
It is the customers' and the public's first point of reference. Its origin and history are, therefore, every bit as revealing and interesting as its current status on the market.

Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz.

In spite of living only about a hundred kilometers from each other at the beginning of the eighteen eighties, in Cannstatt and Mannheim, the great engineers and company founders never actually met.

During this period they built the world's first lightweight high-speed engine and the first motor vehicles,, thus laying the foundations for motorized transport.
Both men founded their own companies, Benz in 1883 and Daimler in 1890, and as demand grew both at home and abroad, they gradually expanded their sales network to match.


To publicize their products, each company needed a pithy, memorable trademark. Initially the name of the inventors themselves, 'Benz' and 'Daimler', vouched for the origin and quality of the engines and vehicles. But while Benz & Cie in Mannheim kept the original name in their trademark - although the gearwheel of 1903 encircling the name was replaced in 1909 with a laurel wreath - a completely new and unusual name, 'Mercedes', was brought out just after the turn of the century for the products of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Cannstatt.

Why was this name chosen?
Mercedes is a Spanish Christian name meaning 'grace'.

Mercedes


was also the name of a pretty young girl born in 1889 in Vienna and the favorite daughter of the Austrian businessman and Consul General Emil Jellinek, who lived in Nice. Forward-looking and sportily inclined, Jellinek was enthusiastic about the dawn of the motoring age and believed that the motor car was a major importance for the future.

In 1897 he had already made a special journey to Cannstatt. He visited the factory and brought back a car to the French Riviera which caused quite a stir. Since Jellinek was a big figure in society there and had good relations with the international financial world and the aristocracy, it was not long before prospective buyers and distinguished customers were taking an interest in the Daimler cars. Jellinek was soon able to place bigger and bigger orders in Bad Cannstatt.

In the 'Tour de Nice' of 1899, he entered a 23 hp Daimler racing car under the pseudonym 'Mercedes". It promptly won first prize. Next year a fatal accident took place during a hill-climb race an, at the instigation of Emil Jellinek and supported by Wilhelm Maybach, Daimler's brilliant designer, it was decided to adopt a new design with larger wheelbase, lower center gravity and powerful engine. Jellinek, convinced that this new design would be a big hit

on the market, ordered 36 cars with a total value of 550,000 gold marks, on condition that he be made sole agent for the sales of these cars in certain countries. Daimler agreed and also accepted Jellinek's proposal to name the cars after his daughter 'Mercedes'.
The name caught on so well that soon it was used for all Daimler vehicles.
The triumphs of the first Mercedes racing car in 1901 were hailed by contemporaries as the start of the 'Mercedes era' in vehicle design and motor sport.


But still a suitable trademark was required to go with the successful name, which was registered in 1902.
Daimler had died in 1900 at the age of only 66 but his two sons, now managers at their father's company, remembered that he had once sent a post card to his wife on which a star marked the house where he was living in Deutz. He had commented that eventually this star would rise and shine out over his work.
The Chairman of Daimler took the idea up in June 1909 applied to use both a three-pointed star and a four-pointed star as trademarks.



Both applications were granted, but only the three-pointed star was actually used. It was placed at the front of the car as a radiator emblem. Over the years the star, which was also intended to symbolize the modernization of transport on land, water and in the air, acquired various additions and refinements.

In 1916, it was placed inside a circle which featured four small stars at the top and either the word Mercedes or the names of the Daimler plants in Untertuerkheim and Berlin-Marienfelde underneath.

In 1921 an application was made to have the three-pointed star in the ring patented as a radiator emblem and two years later this request was granted.

The period after the First World War, with inflation and sluggish sales - particularly for cars, which were still regarded as a luxury - took a heavy toll on the German motor industry. Only the financially fittest companies, with well-established brands, stood a chance of survival, although they were often forced to enter into mergers or alliances.

The pioneering companies Daimler and Benz, which in the meantime had become internationally famous, also went down this road, forming an association of common interest in 1924. The aim of this was to standardize the design and manufacture of their products, and to team up on purchasing, sales and advertising. Nevertheless, although the two companies generally carried out joint advertising for their products during this period, they still used separate trademarks.


Two years later, in 1926, the two oldest auto firms merged to form one company, Daimler-Benz AG.

A trademark was now created which incorporated the typical emblems of both companies: the world famous three pointed star of Daimler was encircled by the name 'Mercedes' and the equally illustrious name Benz', these names being linked by the Benz laurel wreath. This trademark - which has remained virtually unchanged over the years - is still used on the high-end models of Daimler-Benz range.



The Mercedes star has become a symbol of quality and safety and the name 'Mercedes-Benz' is a byword all over the world for both tradition and innovation.





© DaimlerChrysler 2003