Deutsche Telekom names new brand chief

Deutsche Telekom has named Ulrich Klenke as chief brand officer, succeeding Hans-Christian Schwingen, who is leaving the company.

Ulrich Klenke

Klenke, who, like Schwingen will report to Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges, is a former CEO of advertising agency Ogilvy and more recently worked as a consultant for Volkswagen.

He previously worked for Daimler, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodgebefore moving to DDB Berlin as managing director. Healso serves as head of marketing at Deutsche Bahn before becoming chief executive of Olilvy in 2015.

Schwingen was responsible for combining the grou’s various international brands under the single ‘T’ brand and played a key role in repositioning Telekom from a technology-oriented company to a ‘experience brand’ as well as laying the

Hans-Christian Schwingen

foundation for the organisational merger of the group’s fixed and mobile communications divisions to create a brand as a full-service provider.

“Leading a brand champion like Deutsche Telekom into the future is the dream of every marketer. My focus will be agile brand management, with the goal of fostering digital optimism and touching people emotionally. To achieve this, it is necessary to rethink existing structures, to act quickly and in an integrated way and to live out consistent customer orientation.”

Höttges said: “The Telekom brand has a great social relevance. Ulrich Klenke is taking on a huge responsibility to develop the brand consistently and sustainably in line with the spirit of the times. His entrepreneurial experience from the agency business and working for major companies undergoing major transformations qualifies him for this challenging task.”