Cistern as an advertising medium
Sanitary Everyone knows Geberit's products, even though the company hardly advertises in the public media.
Sanitary Everyone knows Geberit's products, even though the company hardly advertises in the public media.
One press of the button on the toilet and the Geberit logo discreetly stamped into the plastic is once again etched into the subconscious. For most Swiss people, Geberit also means "flushing", but this area only accounts for 13 percent of the Group's expected sales of 1.9 billion Swiss francs this year. Geberit is one of the best-known brands in Switzerland, although the company hardly advertises to the public. There is nothing disreputable about the label; on the contrary, Geberit is associated with clinical cleanliness. However, this is not the result of exuberant advertising campaigns, but of outstanding products.
"We focus on a single business idea, we want to provide top performance in sanitary technology - worldwide." This is what CEO Günter Kelm says, whose executive office does not represent, but acts as what it is: a workplace. "Being more than appearing" is the tried and tested motto of this Swiss flagship company, whose roots go back 130 years.
Geberit's marketing and advertising strategy is not aimed at the end consumer, but at planners, plumbers and wholesalers. Geberit is the brand of the craftsman, explains the CEO. Accordingly, the company provides comprehensive support to craftsmen and sanitary planners. The product range is huge and also includes, for example, complete installation systems for fresh and waste water that are invisible to the end user.
However, there is something to the cliché of flushing, because that is how the history of this company began. Founded in 1874 as a small plumbing business in Rapperswil SG, the Gebert family's company has repeatedly set milestones in sanitary technology over the course of its long history. First with wooden cisterns, later with odor-insulating siphons. In 1952, the company launched a hit and a futuristic image carrier with the first white cistern made entirely of plastic, which soon adorned the wet zone of every new-build apartment and also embodied the spirit of optimism of the 1950s to a large extent.
From family business to corporate group
A decade later, Geberit, as the company is now called, revolutionized the sanitary sector once again with its pre-wall technology; since then, the cistern and all installations have often been concealed behind the wall. Determined, yet thrifty in a Helvetian way and focused on solidity and efficiency, the third-generation descendants, Klaus and Heinrich Gebert, expand the company into a group operating throughout Europe. The Berlin manager Günter Kelm joined Geberit, which was still managed by Heinrich and Klaus Gebert, in 1986. He first took over as CEO of Geberit Germany, the largest subsidiary; in 1991, the owners appointed him as the first non-family manager to become CEO, as there were no newcomers who could fill this position. The new CEO and his management team initiated a comprehensive restructuring of the Group and transformed the family business into a decentralized Group, which went public in mid-1999.
Günter Kelm has now also assumed the position of Delegate of the Board of Directors of Geberit Holding AG. Kelm states that he believes in the superiority of decentralized management structures because they promote entrepreneurship among managers and employees, adding: "But in case of doubt, the good of the Group comes before the good of the individual. Shareholder value is also important at Geberit, but not on the basis of speculation. We concentrate on our business and then see what our share price does," says the Group CEO. Apparently a recipe for success: the share price, which started at CHF 333 in 1999, recently shot up to CHF 975.
Investing in the futureGeberit invests CHF 35 million a year in research and development; a further CHF 80 million is invested annually in the expansion and modernization of the plants. The company generates a full third of its turnover with products that its engineers have invented or substantially developed over the last three years.
One successful example is the dual-flush technology that doses water consumption according to need, which Geberit launched on the market a few years ago. The economical use of the precious raw material water is becoming increasingly important worldwide, an area in which Geberit has long been a pioneer. According to Kelm, product development consistently takes all ecological aspects into account. As a result, Geberit products are more environmentally friendly than average in terms of production, use and disposal. The pacemaker of sanitary progress is Geberit Technik AG in Jona, the research and development company with 150 engineers and designers.
Bringing the light out from under the bushelWith the new "Know- How Installed" campaign, Geberit now wants to finally bring the light out from under the bushel. Günter Kelm in the guide for employees, where the concept is explained: "If we want to maintain our lead over the competition and maintain our position, we not only have to be the market leader - we also have to act and communicate accordingly." An international communication concept that provides a solid platform for Geberit products and services is an important means of maintaining the company's strong market position, the CEO continues.
Where the company used to maintain a discreet low profile, it now applies high-profile communication guidelines: "For our concept to be effective, it should tell the story of who we are and what we stand for in an engaging way. And this should be communicated powerfully in the markets," says the Geberit CEO.
Better discreetThe Geberit catalogs and advertisements in trade journals are never blatant. On the contrary, they are dominated by elegant gray and blue and lots of facts and figures about the products, whether they are about saving water, new connection technologies or even more sophisticated flushing.
"The world is full of missed opportunities - we at Geberit see it as full of opportunities," says the innovation brochure entitled "Taking off". With the icon "Know-How Installed", the Group wants to get to the heart of its credo in a communicative way. Kelm says to the employees: "Optimizing our communication will ensure that it is effective and sustainable, and it will contribute to better use of our marketing resources."
Geberit headquarters in Jona SG: The company operates successfully even though it largely dispenses with communication with end customers.
Straightforward: Geberit's communication is geared towards planners, plumbers and wholesalers.
Werner Catrina
One press of the button on the toilet and the Geberit logo discreetly stamped into the plastic is once again etched into the subconscious. For most Swiss people, Geberit also means "flushing", but this area only accounts for 13 percent of the Group's expected sales of 1.9 billion Swiss francs this year. Geberit is one of the best-known brands in Switzerland, although the company hardly advertises to the public. There is nothing disreputable about the label; on the contrary, Geberit is associated with clinical cleanliness. However, this is not the result of exuberant advertising campaigns, but of outstanding products.
"We focus on a single business idea, we want to provide top performance in sanitary technology - worldwide." This is what CEO Günter Kelm says, whose executive office does not represent, but acts as what it is: a workplace. "Being more than appearing" is the tried and tested motto of this Swiss flagship company, whose roots go back 130 years.
Geberit's marketing and advertising strategy is not aimed at the end consumer, but at planners, plumbers and wholesalers. Geberit is the brand of the craftsman, explains the CEO. Accordingly, the company provides comprehensive support to craftsmen and sanitary planners. The product range is huge and also includes, for example, complete installation systems for fresh and waste water that are invisible to the end user.
However, there is something to the cliché of flushing, because that is how the history of this company began. Founded in 1874 as a small plumbing business in Rapperswil SG, the Gebert family's company has repeatedly set milestones in sanitary technology over the course of its long history. First with wooden cisterns, later with odor-insulating siphons. In 1952, the company launched a hit and a futuristic image carrier with the first white cistern made entirely of plastic, which soon adorned the wet zone of every new-build apartment and also embodied the spirit of optimism of the 1950s to a large extent.
From family business to corporate group
A decade later, Geberit, as the company is now called, revolutionized the sanitary sector once again with its pre-wall technology; since then, the cistern and all installations have often been concealed behind the wall. Determined, yet thrifty in a Helvetian way and focused on solidity and efficiency, the third-generation descendants, Klaus and Heinrich Gebert, expand the company into a group operating throughout Europe. The Berlin manager Günter Kelm joined Geberit, which was still managed by Heinrich and Klaus Gebert, in 1986. He first took over as CEO of Geberit Germany, the largest subsidiary; in 1991, the owners appointed him as the first non-family manager to become CEO, as there were no newcomers who could fill this position. The new CEO and his management team initiated a comprehensive restructuring of the Group and transformed the family business into a decentralized Group, which went public in mid-1999.
Günter Kelm has now also assumed the position of Delegate of the Board of Directors of Geberit Holding AG. Kelm states that he believes in the superiority of decentralized management structures because they promote entrepreneurship among managers and employees, adding: "But in case of doubt, the good of the Group comes before the good of the individual. Shareholder value is also important at Geberit, but not on the basis of speculation. We concentrate on our business and then see what our share price does," says the Group CEO. Apparently a recipe for success: the share price, which started at CHF 333 in 1999, recently shot up to CHF 975.
Investing in the futureGeberit invests CHF 35 million a year in research and development; a further CHF 80 million is invested annually in the expansion and modernization of the plants. The company generates a full third of its turnover with products that its engineers have invented or substantially developed over the last three years.
One successful example is the dual-flush technology that doses water consumption according to need, which Geberit launched on the market a few years ago. The economical use of the precious raw material water is becoming increasingly important worldwide, an area in which Geberit has long been a pioneer. According to Kelm, product development consistently takes all ecological aspects into account. As a result, Geberit products are more environmentally friendly than average in terms of production, use and disposal. The pacemaker of sanitary progress is Geberit Technik AG in Jona, the research and development company with 150 engineers and designers.
Bringing the light out from under the bushelWith the new "Know- How Installed" campaign, Geberit now wants to finally bring the light out from under the bushel. Günter Kelm in the guide for employees, where the concept is explained: "If we want to maintain our lead over the competition and maintain our position, we not only have to be the market leader - we also have to act and communicate accordingly." An international communication concept that provides a solid platform for Geberit products and services is an important means of maintaining the company's strong market position, the CEO continues.
Where the company used to maintain a discreet low profile, it now applies high-profile communication guidelines: "For our concept to be effective, it should tell the story of who we are and what we stand for in an engaging way. And this should be communicated powerfully in the markets," says the Geberit CEO.
Better discreetThe Geberit catalogs and advertisements in trade journals are never blatant. On the contrary, they are dominated by elegant gray and blue and lots of facts and figures about the products, whether they are about saving water, new connection technologies or even more sophisticated flushing.
"The world is full of missed opportunities - we at Geberit see it as full of opportunities," says the innovation brochure entitled "Taking off". With the icon "Know-How Installed", the Group wants to get to the heart of its credo in a communicative way. Kelm says to the employees: "Optimizing our communication will ensure that it is effective and sustainable, and it will contribute to better use of our marketing resources."
Geberit headquarters in Jona SG: The company operates successfully even though it largely dispenses with communication with end customers.
Straightforward: Geberit's communication is geared towards planners, plumbers and wholesalers.
Werner Catrina
