More than just gasoline
Avia is launching a Europe-wide free roadside assistance service. TBWA is handling the marketing.
Things are starting to roll in terms of roadside assistance in Switzerland. After the Cooldown Club for young members at TCS, Avia is now also launching a new customer card for private individuals with free breakdown service. From January 2009, cardholders will not only be able to benefit from cashless refueling at Switzerland's largest service station network, but also from a Europe-wide breakdown service. The "unique offer" is being advertised in cooperation with AXA Winterthur. In addition to the free services in the event of a breakdown, Avia cardholders also benefit from a special discount when they take out cancellation costs or personal assistance insurance, as well as legal expenses insurance from Winterthur-ARAG.
TBWA Zurich won a pitch for the communication of the new customer card and numerous other measures related to Avia's new branding. The advertisers led by CD Urs Schrepfer see a lot of dormant potential in the 700 or so Avia gas stations in Switzerland today to position this brand even more strongly in competition with international multinationals like Shell or Esso. Many Avia service stations are still waiting for their customers in a sympathetically inconspicuous, but at the same time "too discreet" manner. To change that, the creatives have now flown in a bird. The mascot, invented at TBWA and further hatched in three dimensions at the new post-production service provider Elefant Studios in Zurich, is to function as a key visual for Avia in the future. TBWA came up with the idea of a bird as a sympathetic figure because an old Avia logo in 1946 actually still had a propeller integrated into it, because Avia was also known for its aviation fuel.
Typical Swiss organization
In 1927, independent Swiss importers of petroleum products joined forces and founded the Avia Association in Switzerland. Unlike its well-known competitors, the organization is not a multinational corporation, but a typically Swiss institution that nevertheless plays a quite considerable international role in Western Europe. Today, the eleven member companies of Avia, such as Osterwalder in St.Gallen, Grisard in Basel or Küng in Bern and Schätzle in Lucerne, supply the largest network of service stations in Switzerland under their common brand name. However, the independence of the members is still the main characteristic of the organization.
Thanks to this independence, the Avia companies are strongly anchored in the regional market and "therefore closer to the customer," according to Patrick Staubli, the association's managing director. Through their joint warehouses, the Avia companies have high tank capacities at their disposal. With around two billion liters per year, Avia is a significant factor in the national supply. In Europe, the association has been present in 14 countries with over 3,000 service stations since Avia International was founded in 1960.
Large customer base
Even before TBWA's new brand offensive, Avia can boast a customer base of over 100,000 private cardholders. These will now automatically receive a new Avia card in the mail in time for the date of other club renewals, offering the new breakdown service. Anyone who fills out the application is automatically insured after paying the next fuel bill. In addition to the Europe-wide breakdown service, the cardholder also benefits from discounts at various hotels worldwide as well as at Sixt and also Sixt Holiday Cars.
The campaign for the card will start next Sunday with a double-page ad in the Sunday press. Here, the canister will mutate into a bird for the first time. At larger gas stations, for example on the highway, the animal can puff itself up to a height of over two meters as an eye-catcher on the roof. PR will also play a major role in the entire launch. At TBWA, this will be coordinated and implemented by the newly established in-house department headed by Ingrid Notter.
Andreas Panzeri
TBWA Zurich won a pitch for the communication of the new customer card and numerous other measures related to Avia's new branding. The advertisers led by CD Urs Schrepfer see a lot of dormant potential in the 700 or so Avia gas stations in Switzerland today to position this brand even more strongly in competition with international multinationals like Shell or Esso. Many Avia service stations are still waiting for their customers in a sympathetically inconspicuous, but at the same time "too discreet" manner. To change that, the creatives have now flown in a bird. The mascot, invented at TBWA and further hatched in three dimensions at the new post-production service provider Elefant Studios in Zurich, is to function as a key visual for Avia in the future. TBWA came up with the idea of a bird as a sympathetic figure because an old Avia logo in 1946 actually still had a propeller integrated into it, because Avia was also known for its aviation fuel.
Typical Swiss organization
In 1927, independent Swiss importers of petroleum products joined forces and founded the Avia Association in Switzerland. Unlike its well-known competitors, the organization is not a multinational corporation, but a typically Swiss institution that nevertheless plays a quite considerable international role in Western Europe. Today, the eleven member companies of Avia, such as Osterwalder in St.Gallen, Grisard in Basel or Küng in Bern and Schätzle in Lucerne, supply the largest network of service stations in Switzerland under their common brand name. However, the independence of the members is still the main characteristic of the organization.
Thanks to this independence, the Avia companies are strongly anchored in the regional market and "therefore closer to the customer," according to Patrick Staubli, the association's managing director. Through their joint warehouses, the Avia companies have high tank capacities at their disposal. With around two billion liters per year, Avia is a significant factor in the national supply. In Europe, the association has been present in 14 countries with over 3,000 service stations since Avia International was founded in 1960.
Large customer base
Even before TBWA's new brand offensive, Avia can boast a customer base of over 100,000 private cardholders. These will now automatically receive a new Avia card in the mail in time for the date of other club renewals, offering the new breakdown service. Anyone who fills out the application is automatically insured after paying the next fuel bill. In addition to the Europe-wide breakdown service, the cardholder also benefits from discounts at various hotels worldwide as well as at Sixt and also Sixt Holiday Cars.
The campaign for the card will start next Sunday with a double-page ad in the Sunday press. Here, the canister will mutate into a bird for the first time. At larger gas stations, for example on the highway, the animal can puff itself up to a height of over two meters as an eye-catcher on the roof. PR will also play a major role in the entire launch. At TBWA, this will be coordinated and implemented by the newly established in-house department headed by Ingrid Notter.
Andreas Panzeri
