I've been told that Switzerland some months ago conducted a major
re-branding exercise of the Swiss brand (the country). Has any cases
been written on this recent project. I'm only interested in this
particular (and very recent project) not old (as there are a lot)
project regarding the Swiss brand.

Good luck,

Martin

---

Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 15 Dec 2003 16:06 PST

Dear Martin,

Is this the particular "Swiss" brand you have in mind?
http://www.swisslabel.ch/img/pics/ch_made.gif

Or do you mean an official, government-conducted initiative aimed at
the image of products "made in Switzerland" in general?

Regards,
Scriptor

---

Clarification of Question by lindstrom-ga on 15 Dec 2003 17:20 PST

Hi Scriptor,
No your case is in fact a "brand = product" not the country. I'm
looking for the project "Rebrand Switzerland" which took place between
9 and 6 months ago.

Sorry - but thanks for your help.

All the best,

martin

---

Clarification of Question by lindstrom-ga on 16 Dec 2003 01:38 PST

Hi fp-ga,
Thanks for your feedback.
I've looked at the site and even though the title indicates something
very similar to what I'm looking for it unfortunately doesn?t look
like the project I've been told about. I've been told about a project
which basically redesigned the whole country, it's merchandising - the
result of this project was released some months ago.

I'm sorry about that - but once again thanks for your feedback.

Martin

---

Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 16 Dec 2003 09:58 PST

lindstrom - are you sure this recent rumor was not a result of the
rebranding that went on as regards "Swiss" the airline, what was
formerly SwissAir?

www.swiss.com

thanks,
ragingacademic

---

Clarification of Question by lindstrom-ga on 16 Dec 2003 16:52 PST

Hi ragingacademic-ga,
Yes I am as the Swiss (Airline) re-branding process didn't result in
any major merchandising program covering everything from cars to
bags...

Sorry :-(

Martin

Is this project part of "Presence Switzerland"?

http://www.presence.ch/prs_dir/e/start.html


There are a few articles on "Präsenz Schweiz" in a leading German
language newspaper. If this would interest you I suppose that a
Researcher would provide you with the link necessary to find these
articles.

Such a project "Rebrand Switzerland" would certainly have been
mentioned by the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung"
http://www.nzz.ch/

You or someone from GA may like to have a look at some recent editions of the NZZ:
http://nzz.gbi.de/NZZ.ein


The following articles, as well as many others, might be of some interest:

16.03.03 Die Schweiz braucht mehr / "Präsenz Schweiz" / Konstruktive
Kritik ist willkommen. Doch der politische Dauerbeschuss auf die
Image-Agentur ärgert Johannes Matyassy
 
06.03.03 Herausgegriffen / Präsenz Schweiz - weder drin noch draussen

26.11.02 "National Brand" für die Schweiz

02.11.02 Stabil und wenig innovativ / Studien zum Image der Schweiz

29.10.02 Ein "National Brand" für die Schweiz / Neues Dachlogo soll
nationale PR-Arbeit unterstützen / Seit rund eineinhalb Jahren bemüht
sich die Organisation Präsenz Schweiz des Departements für auswärtige
Angelegenheiten ...

15.10.02 Präsenz Schweiz - die Ausland-PR-Agentur des Bundes

04.03.02 BRAINSTORMING IM SÄLI
Präsenz Schweiz, die PR- Agentur des Bundes, soll das angeschlagene
Image der Schweiz wieder aufpolieren. Doch die in der Krise aus der
Taufe gehobene Organisation stolpert selber von Krise zu Krise.

Not to forget the federal structure of Switzerland with its many cantons:
http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/schweiz/kantone/index.html

Dear fp-ga,
Thanks for your effort on this challenging request.
I've posted a smaller fee under your name - just to indicate that I
appreciate your effort even though we never managed to find the stuff.

Once again thanks for your help.

All the best,

Martin

Hi Martin,

I'll look for some other examples this weekend but for now here's a 
study on Switzerland as a brand from the UBS:
http://www.ubs.com/e/ubs_ch/bb_ch/market_information/outlook.Referenz.0014.pdf/B_Schweiz_e.pdf

Also merging into the IT/knowledge management arena with swissnex:
http://www01.imd.ch/webletter/article.cfm?num=1986
http://www.swissnex.org

Power Tools (Perles of Switzerland):
http://www.perles.ch/firma.asp?act=2&language=e

And something unrelated but saw it and thought it might interest you:
http://www.agendainc.com/brand.html

Back later...
V

Selling Switzerland as a major telecommunications player, Ascom AG, 
etc.:  

"Swiss telecommunications company Ascom has completed the 
world's first-ever QoS drive test in a live 'third-generation' W-CDMA 
mobile communications network.

The test results clearly demonstrate that W-CDMA networks offer 
satisfactory performance even at this early stage of development, and 
conclusively prove that existing network optimization tools can be 
successfully applied in a '3G' network environment."

http://www.mobilecomms-technology.com/contractors/networkplanning/ascom/press1.html
http://www.ascom.com/ecore/WebObjects/ecore.woa/de/showRootNode/hostName_www.ascom.com.html
http://www.qvoice.com
http://www.swisscom.com/GHQ/content?lang=en
http://www.orange.com/Textonly/investorrelations/switzerland8.asp?UID=

============================

Probably more relevant to your brand extension question but it also 
pertains to the re-branding of Swiss Army as an apparel/accessories 
line:

Swiss Army/Forschner Group/Victorinox
http://www.usatoday.com/money/retail/2001-11-01-swiss-army.htm
http://www.luggagepros.com/swissarmyluggage/index.shtml
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/9/prweb74052.php
http://www.corporateshoppingco.com/apparel/apparel.mv

=============================

Another Swiss brand extension is Nestle ranging into the area of 
bottled water:
http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?id=88

=============================

Switzerland to beef up their mechanical, electrical, engineering 
sectors under the guise of Swissmem:
The Swiss mechanical, electrical and engineering industries (MEM 
industries) are renowned worldwide for their efficiency, innovation 
and technical leadership. Swissmem provides member companies in sector 
specific divisions and groups with a forum for information exchange 
and marketing activities. The groups provide sector-specific 
information, organize trade fairs, prepare statistics and sector 
indicators.
http://www.swissmem.ch/eng/fachgrup.cfm

=============================

In keeping with the 'monied,' land of luxury appellation of 
Switzerland, here is Swissoil (luxury car care products):
http://www.swissol.com

=============================

Swiss Army vehicles apparently have a worldwide following:
http://www.pinzgauer.com/new_arrivals.htm
http://www.swissarmyvehicles.com

=============================

The Swiss have also acquied some world class stature in the 
architecture and design fields:

http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/e/articles/news/schweizerarch.html
http://www.vanalen.org/exhibits/SwissSection/swiss.htm
http://www.simplyswiss.com/about.htm

=============================

Gourmet cookware:
http://www.kuhnrikon.com
http://www.swissmar.com

==============================

A Swiss foundation has also become an exemplar for fair trade 
agreements:

http://www.starbucks.ch/en/our_company_en_544.htm
http://www.maxhavelaar.nl

==============================

Switzerland as a top energy producer:

http://www.nationmaster.com/country/sz/Energy
http://www.switzerlandenergy.com

===============================

Swiss sports/accessories:

http://www.designdesign.cz/scripts/kategorie.asp?kat=siggaction
http://www.swiss-sports-haus.com
http://www.sportsvision.ch/sv/index.html

===============================

Branding 'swissness':

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:8aiSdGG54ioJ:www.amcham.ch/chamber/content/NewsletterNY_05_03.pdf+swissness&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Swiss-America Chamber of Commerce:
http://www.amcham.ch/news/m_wage_survey_2004.htm

================================

Globilazation Rebranding of Switzerland:

"On 10 October, the UNESCO General Conference elected Switzerland a 
member of the 58-country UNESCO Executive Board. The Executive Board 
is the UNESCO's main controlling body. Switzerland has not been a 
member of the Executive Board since 1997.

On 10 October 2003, the General Conference of UNESCO member states 
elected Switzerland a member of Group 1 - West European States and 
North America ? of the UNESCO Executive Board. There were five new 
seats in all to be filled in this electoral group. France, Italy, 
Canada and the United States were elected to the other four seats.

This seat on the Executive Board will enable Switzerland to strengthen 
its commitment to shaping and implementing UNESCO objectives and 
priorities. Switzerland's main priorities within UNESCO are Literacy 
for All, promotion of the knowledge society, the strengthening of 
UNESCO's role in the dialogue of civilisations, cultures and religions,
 the protection and preservation of the cultural heritage of mankind 
and the further development of international law, particularly in the 
field of cultural diversity.  Switzerland's election to the UNESCO 
Executive Board is an important success for the Swiss Government?s 
policy of strengthening Switzerland's presence in the UN system.

===============================
Incidental Linkage:
===============================

Probably not all that usable, but with the popularity of the HBO 
series, Carnivale, there has been a renewed interest in absinthe.  
Switzerland has the most popular brand, LaBleue:
http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.lableue.biz/de/absinthe.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522La%2BBleue%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8

===============================

World Advertising Research Center
http://www.warc.com

===============================

Many Worlds:
http://www.manyworlds.com

===============================

Perhaps an interesting study to watch:

Religious Values and Brand Loyalty
Aric Rindfleisch, Assistant Professor in Marketing, UW-Madison

"The purpose of this project is to provide an examination of the 
relationship between religion and brand loyalty. In contrast to prior 
research, which is characterized by a focus on the impact of religious 
affiliation (e.g., Christianity, Judaism) among U.S. consumers, this 
study will explore the impact of religious values (i.e., the 
importance placed on religion) across an international sample in the 
United States and Singapore. Singapore provides a particularly 
appropriate setting for testing the boundaries of our theory, as its 
diverse population is comprised of large number of Buddhists, 
Christians and Muslims. Based on prior research in the values 
literature, we believe that religious values have a dynamic impact on 
brand loyalty, as the orthodox (i.e., focus on tradition over change) 
dimension of religion should enhance brand loyalty (manifest as 
increased behavioral commitment), while the spiritual (i.e., focus on 
spiritual over worldly things) should weaken brand loyalty (due to 
diminished psychological commitment).
http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:n4gf4ze5XNsJ:www.bus.wisc.edu/ciber/facdev/research.asp+%22religious+values+and+brand+loyalty%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

===============================

Beyond Branding:
http://www.beyond-branding.com/links.htm

It was a pleasure doing this research for you on Switzerland and I 
hope there's some massagable info in this batch of linkage.


Best wishes,
V