Softies with a strong personality
Cheese Production: Baer, a Lucerne-based soft cheese manufacturer, is launching a national campaign featuring a new slogan and a redesigned logo—not least in light of the liberalized cheese market.
Cheese production The Lucerne-based company Baer, producer of soft cheese, is launching a national campaign with a new slogan and revised logo - not least in view of the liberalized cheese market. Küssnacht am Rigi, where, according to legend, the original Swiss hero William Tell sealed the fate of Switzerland, is also where the farmer's son and businessman Edwin Baer wrote a piece of Swiss history: In 1922, he founded a soft cheese dairy in the hard cheese stronghold of Switzerland. Today, the Baer company generates an annual turnover of around 44 million Swiss francs with sales of 3025 tons. The best-known Baer product is probably Camembert Suisse, which is entering its 76th year of production this year. In Switzerland, soft cheese accounts for around 12.7 percent of the cheese market - this corresponds to an annual sales volume of 11,000 tons. The market leader in this segment is the major French group Bongrain, which supplies the Swiss retail trade with brands such as Saint'Albray, Chaumes and Caprice des Dieux. Baer is in second place, followed by Laiteries Réunies Genève (LRG) with its soft cheese production Val d'Arve SA.
According to an AC-Nielsen survey, the Baer brand has a brand awareness of 85%. Nevertheless, the company wants to reposition itself and further increase its brand awareness. The following should contribute to this
the current campaign from image TV commercials
and product advertisements - designed by Atelier A4 in Rotkreuz and Alborghetti Communications in Zurich.
Under the motto "the switches that make you weak", the spot protagonists show how much heart
Baer employees put all their energy into the production of "their" cheese. No effort is spared to achieve the right degree of ripeness for the dairy products: Sometimes even melancholy accordion sounds are played to soften Camembert and Co. - at least that's what the TV commercial shows.
An important part of the campaign is also the new slogan "Full of personality", which replaces the previous "Naturally tastes better". For a long time, this slogan stood for Baer's commitment to organic production. However, while the outdated slogan is still practiced as a philosophy within the company, as Baer Marketing Manager Alex Stähli explains, it was not possible to sell a wide range of organic products under the Baer brand, as the main distributors Migros and Coop sold the products under their organic labels. The logo was also adapted with the repositioning: Red and gold replaced green and black. Stähli explains that they wanted to bring in more indulgence and high quality, and: "The red can also convey a bit of Swissness."
No more cheese limits
This is no coincidence, as the bilateral agreements with the EU provide for a gradual dismantling of customs restrictions in the soft cheese trade over the next five years. This will intensify competition and increase price pressure in the domestic market. It is therefore a major challenge to make the leap into a European league, says Stähli. Especially as the company has had to specialize in the small Swiss market for the last 20 years. On the future of Baer, Stähli says: "We need a strong position in the domestic market in order to defend it and also create a good basis for exports." The aim is to double sales within the next five years - only
European levels of productivity could be achieved.
Baer Camembert tastes even better with the logo trimmed for Swissness.
Bongrain (25%)Baer (20%)
LRG (13.5%)
Other (41.5%)
Simone Keller
According to an AC-Nielsen survey, the Baer brand has a brand awareness of 85%. Nevertheless, the company wants to reposition itself and further increase its brand awareness. The following should contribute to this
the current campaign from image TV commercials
and product advertisements - designed by Atelier A4 in Rotkreuz and Alborghetti Communications in Zurich.
Under the motto "the switches that make you weak", the spot protagonists show how much heart
Baer employees put all their energy into the production of "their" cheese. No effort is spared to achieve the right degree of ripeness for the dairy products: Sometimes even melancholy accordion sounds are played to soften Camembert and Co. - at least that's what the TV commercial shows.
An important part of the campaign is also the new slogan "Full of personality", which replaces the previous "Naturally tastes better". For a long time, this slogan stood for Baer's commitment to organic production. However, while the outdated slogan is still practiced as a philosophy within the company, as Baer Marketing Manager Alex Stähli explains, it was not possible to sell a wide range of organic products under the Baer brand, as the main distributors Migros and Coop sold the products under their organic labels. The logo was also adapted with the repositioning: Red and gold replaced green and black. Stähli explains that they wanted to bring in more indulgence and high quality, and: "The red can also convey a bit of Swissness."
No more cheese limits
This is no coincidence, as the bilateral agreements with the EU provide for a gradual dismantling of customs restrictions in the soft cheese trade over the next five years. This will intensify competition and increase price pressure in the domestic market. It is therefore a major challenge to make the leap into a European league, says Stähli. Especially as the company has had to specialize in the small Swiss market for the last 20 years. On the future of Baer, Stähli says: "We need a strong position in the domestic market in order to defend it and also create a good basis for exports." The aim is to double sales within the next five years - only
European levels of productivity could be achieved.
Baer Camembert tastes even better with the logo trimmed for Swissness.
Bongrain (25%)Baer (20%)
LRG (13.5%)
Other (41.5%)
Simone Keller
