Matured like the Appenzeller
Cheese Contexta has been managing Appenzeller's budget for 40 years. And for 700 years, this cheese has been considered the spiciest in Switzerland.
Cheese Contexta has been managing the Appenzeller budget for 40 years. And for 700 years, this cheese has been considered the spiciest in Switzerland. The secret of the sulz is not revealed. Not even in the campaign now underway for Appenzeller's 700th anniversary. What can be revealed - and this is not cheese - is that without Appenzeller there might never have been a Contexta. Or then it would have been different. In any case, Appenzeller was the agency's first client 40 years ago - and thus a spotty, but otherwise ideally seasoned start-up aid for the Bernese creatives. CD Bene Abegglen was not there when the agency was founded. However, he remembers his first commercial, which he was able to help create in 1978, immediately after joining Contexta. The campaign at the time communicated in the style of peasant painting. In the commercial, an animated dog was incorporated into this traditional art as an effective advertising element. "We laughed a lot," recalls Abegglen. And he is thinking of more than just this one campaign for Appenzeller. It was also amusing later on, he says, how he felt like he was being watched at every corner by these three dairymen on a stroll through Hamburg's Reeperbahn, with whom he had recently designed the posters now hanging here.
Welcome standstillIf you compare Appenzeller posters from the early seventies with today's print campaign, you will see that the world of Appenzeller cheese has not changed much. "And that's a good thing," says Director Christoph Kempter of the variety organization. After all, Appenzeller Käse owes its status as one of the strongest Swiss brands precisely to this brand strategy, which has always been committed to authenticity and continuity. "The central element in the strict Appenzeller brand world is and remains the Appenzeller Sennen with their typical and unmistakable red jackets. Only the focus changes," says Nadine Borter at Contexta, explaining the strategy. In the pioneering days of the campaign, the focus was on origin and nature, followed by the well-known campaign about the secret of herbal salt. The new campaign now focuses on a new aspect: 700 years of tradition.
This approach underpins the brand promise of Appenzeller cheese: Switzerland's tastiest cheese is still produced today with just as much care, love and craftsmanship as it was 700 years ago.
The creative idea behind the broad-based campaign is a leap in time from the past to the present. The campaign is convincing in all disciplines with a uniform implementation. The campaign kicks off with the new image spot, which takes viewers on a journey through the 700-year history of Appenzeller cheese. At the beginning, the spot is entirely in black and white, then we see the typical Technicolor colors of a Heimatfilm, until the film finally ends in the rich colors of today. The film was directed by Michael Steiner, who has specialized in the good old days at least since his feature film "Eugen". Abegglen is proud of the fact that his agency has been working with Michi Steiner long before "Eugen".
Over forty Appenzellers were involved in the elaborate filming. Alpine herdsmen, cheesemakers, the Horn Sepp string orchestra, dancing couples and lots of children. Twenty cows, four pack horses, six goats and two mountain dogs were somewhat more difficult to direct in front of the camera. The film was shot against a magnificent backdrop in a meadow near Gonten and on the Scheidegg in Appenzellerland.
The print implementation fits harmoniously into the overall campaign. Despite the tight corset, Contexta succeeded in discovering new facets within the world of Appenzeller cheese. For example, the leap in time in the print implementation is depicted with a surprising combination of black and white and color photography. The various subjects each show the familiar insignia of the Appenzeller brand, from the descent from the Alps to the care with the mysterious herbal essence.
To ensure that the campaign is also properly understood in Germany and France, Contexta invited the media specialists from these foreign markets to a cheerful tour of the cheese dairy in Appenzell last week. Without an insight into the seasoning, of course.
Andreas Panzeri
Welcome standstillIf you compare Appenzeller posters from the early seventies with today's print campaign, you will see that the world of Appenzeller cheese has not changed much. "And that's a good thing," says Director Christoph Kempter of the variety organization. After all, Appenzeller Käse owes its status as one of the strongest Swiss brands precisely to this brand strategy, which has always been committed to authenticity and continuity. "The central element in the strict Appenzeller brand world is and remains the Appenzeller Sennen with their typical and unmistakable red jackets. Only the focus changes," says Nadine Borter at Contexta, explaining the strategy. In the pioneering days of the campaign, the focus was on origin and nature, followed by the well-known campaign about the secret of herbal salt. The new campaign now focuses on a new aspect: 700 years of tradition.
This approach underpins the brand promise of Appenzeller cheese: Switzerland's tastiest cheese is still produced today with just as much care, love and craftsmanship as it was 700 years ago.
The creative idea behind the broad-based campaign is a leap in time from the past to the present. The campaign is convincing in all disciplines with a uniform implementation. The campaign kicks off with the new image spot, which takes viewers on a journey through the 700-year history of Appenzeller cheese. At the beginning, the spot is entirely in black and white, then we see the typical Technicolor colors of a Heimatfilm, until the film finally ends in the rich colors of today. The film was directed by Michael Steiner, who has specialized in the good old days at least since his feature film "Eugen". Abegglen is proud of the fact that his agency has been working with Michi Steiner long before "Eugen".
Over forty Appenzellers were involved in the elaborate filming. Alpine herdsmen, cheesemakers, the Horn Sepp string orchestra, dancing couples and lots of children. Twenty cows, four pack horses, six goats and two mountain dogs were somewhat more difficult to direct in front of the camera. The film was shot against a magnificent backdrop in a meadow near Gonten and on the Scheidegg in Appenzellerland.
The print implementation fits harmoniously into the overall campaign. Despite the tight corset, Contexta succeeded in discovering new facets within the world of Appenzeller cheese. For example, the leap in time in the print implementation is depicted with a surprising combination of black and white and color photography. The various subjects each show the familiar insignia of the Appenzeller brand, from the descent from the Alps to the care with the mysterious herbal essence.
To ensure that the campaign is also properly understood in Germany and France, Contexta invited the media specialists from these foreign markets to a cheerful tour of the cheese dairy in Appenzell last week. Without an insight into the seasoning, of course.
Andreas Panzeri
