Guerrilla action for culture

 
Bookstore Fnac comes to German-speaking Switzerland. Numéro 10 accompanied the opening of the first store in Basel. 
Basel is the city of culture. It is home to the oldest university in Europe. There is the world-famous Art, historic carnival and leading theater. And over 300 young bands rehearse in the underground. "Happy Basel" is how Gilles Aeby from Numéro 10 describes this fortunate situation for the people of Basel. And because he knew that the city of culture would soon be even happier because Fnac, the French chain of stores for books, film, music and consumer electronics, is planning to open its first branch in German-speaking Switzerland on the Rhine, the guerrilla marketing specialist plastered the entire city with colorful "Happy Basel" stickers on April 7. The confusion was perfect, as FC Basel had won the cup final the previous evening. "It was a lucky coincidence," says Aeby happily. Amidst the frenzy of victory, his action was received with great sympathy by the population everywhere. But there could hardly have been any other trouble. As befits a professional guerrilla campaign, there was also a note printed on the stickers stating that disposal and cleaning had already been "officially organized".
Lots of actionAfter the teasing, the resolution. Once the stickers had been removed, posters in the same colorful style followed. These explained why Basel will be "happy" once again on April 17 thanks to Fnac.
The Fnac poster campaign was complemented by a movie, advertisements, lots of action on the web and an event on the eve of the opening.
More than 2,500 people wanted to marvel at the eight floors of the new store at Steinenvorstadt 5. Numéro 10 and its guerrilla unit Buzzilla also mixed twelve actors from Zurich in with the guests from Basel. They knew how to amaze visitors to the store, for example when they suddenly found themselves in the book section in the middle of the crowd reciting theatrically from a novel. Or unsettled the visitors to the vernissage when an actress in the DVD section spontaneously performed a remake of the legendary orgasm scene from the film "Harry and Sally".
Other bonus material relating to the opening includes a CD produced by Numéro 10 featuring the best of the 300 young Basel bands. It will be sold for Fr. 6.90 at Fnac. All the proceeds will go to support the local music scene. The event of the first Fnac in German-speaking Switzerland was rounded off with 4,000 "Kulturbuttons", which were imaginatively distributed among the people, and a "Happy Basel" streetcar.
The French media wholesaler Fnac (Fédération nationale d'achat des cadres) has been present in the university cities of Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg since 2000. Around 70 people are employed at the Basel branch. Five more branches are to follow in Zurich, Bern, St. Gallen and Lucerne by 2010.
Fnac is the market leader in France and other countries. The company was founded in 1954 by two Trotskyists as a cooperative. Since 1994, the book and media chain has been part of the empire of the French luxury goods and department store group Pinault-Printemps-Redoute.
Andreas Panzeri