"Through the stomach"
Michael Schai, Head of Marketing at Hiestand, on Bakery Branding
Michael Schai, Head of Marketing at Hiestand, on cookie brandingMichael Schai heads a marketing department with 15 employees at Hiestand in Schlieren. This crew is also responsible for advertising the famous croissants. Nevertheless, Hiestand's ideas are anything but homemade.You can place a croissant in such a way that it is either bent to the left or to the right. But what distinguishes a croissant from a croissant when it comes to branding?
Michael Schai: The pleasure. The way to a brand is through the stomach. At trade shows or other promotional events, we don't even try to explain our products rationally; instead, we ask visitors to "Take a bite!" That's the emotional thing. Then, on the production side, certain claims are communicated, such as our raw material philosophy. We want to produce our products as naturally as possible. That means integrated production IP-Swiss, eggs from floor and free-range husbandry, no E-numbers. In addition, the processing must be carried out according to traditional artisan criteria as far as possible. We really leave the dough in the Zwirbelbrot for 18 hours until the dough has risen nicely. This allows it to develop volume and flavor. Only then is it baked. It is the rational things that also make a good croissant.
But how can you communicate that when a summit is known to have no logo?
Shay: In most channels, our products are sold virtually no name. The hotelier bakes our croissants, and the guests think he baked them himself. In the convenience sector, we have the opportunity to appear as a brand by branding the oven. Certain products can also be branded with the packaging, such as the bread bag. We now want to slowly push this, for example at gas stations, with our bakery stores, and in retail.
In Switzerland, an entry into the retail trade under the company name Hiestand is not an issue, said Wolfgang Werlé - the new CEO of Hiestand, who came from the SAir Group this year. What does that mean for marketing?
Schai: Our customers are restaurateurs, hoteliers, are everywhere fresh baked goods are sold: at the point of sale in convenience stores, gas stations, bakeries. At such points, we will do our best to make it clear to consumers that they are buying a product from Hiestand. No one denies the baker's ability to make good peaks. At a gas station, on the other hand, the customer still has in the back of his mind that the peaks smell of gasoline. There, it is a need of our resellers to be able to increasingly appear and advertise with a baker's brand that inspires confidence: "Our croissants are so good because we have all the baker's know-how of Hiestand." In the B2B sector, we have many customers who have this wish themselves because they lack baking expertise.
In other words, your advertising is aimed primarily at B2B customers?
Schai: In the B2B channel, there are many business partners who want to communicate that they have not baked their own products, but are working with the market leader. We have been working on this new philosophy for about two years.
You have 700 products that are to be streamlined to 500. How do you reconcile that in terms of advertising?
Shay: We are a manufacturer brand. But there are very special products in our range, such as the "Cailler summit". Fredy Hiestand invented the Schoggi-Gipfel over 20 years ago...
Doesn't it come from Paris as "pain au chocolat"?
Schai: I think Hiestand invented the chocolate summit. A little more than two years ago, we thought about how we could make this product unique again. We said to ourselves: Why don't we take the best summit and the best branchli? In Switzerland, that's Cailler and Hiestand. So we marketed the combination under the name "Cailler summit". In less than three years, this has now become our fourth best-selling product. But you can't put a label on the product. That's why we developed a bag printed with the Cailler and Hiestand logos. In addition, there are rotairs in the store and other sales material. This and a new roll of Gerber fondue are the few products we are promoting individually so far. Everything else we sell under an umbrella brand.
Hiestand has entered into a new joint venture with Coop under the name Hicopain. Doesn't that lead to a dispersal of the brand?
Schai: The end consumers will never see the logo. Coop lacked additional know-how for baking, and instead of founding a new company itself, Coop realized its expansion plans in the form of a joint venture with us. Hicopain is a purely imaginary name, in which the play on words Copain also resonates as a partner.
Your croissants are also in great demand in Germany, Poland, Austria, and especially in Asia. How do you promote the foreign market?
Schai: In Asia, the "Made in Switzerland" concept is very important for us. The "Swiss made" seal of quality is also one of the reasons why we went to Asia. We have nine stores in Singapore and are very much in the process of setting up in Japan. There, the Japanese enjoy a croissant in the same way that we Swiss eat sushi here. They are very conscious of our croissants and pay six francs a piece for them. That's why we work very strongly in our advertising with the subjects of Swiss mountains and Swiss landscapes. This visual image with beautiful landscapes conveys naturalness.
As a consequence of September 11, Hiestand withdrew from its American business. Hiestand's shares also suffered as a result. What have you been doing in investor relations since then?
Shay: We don't run any special image campaigns. But we are always happy to invite investors. And then, as always, communication for us goes through the stomach. Even at our annual press conference, we appear with an oven and stage a beautiful bakery world. Our image goes through the nose and then through the mouth. Scent marketing and in-store baking works for everyone as a positively charged world.
Do you work with an outside professional for your advertising, or are your campaigns homespun?
Shay: We do most of our advertising ourselves. We have a professional in-house advertising agency with three graphic designers. This ranges from image brochures to annual reports and packaging ideas. But we do selectively bring in external expertise, for example for DM in the B2B area. We have about 6000 different customers, from the small Beck to the large food corporation. They have different needs, everything happens very quickly, so we have to be able to react in-house. In the future, however, we will also get more external know-how in the B2C area.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri
Michael Schai: The pleasure. The way to a brand is through the stomach. At trade shows or other promotional events, we don't even try to explain our products rationally; instead, we ask visitors to "Take a bite!" That's the emotional thing. Then, on the production side, certain claims are communicated, such as our raw material philosophy. We want to produce our products as naturally as possible. That means integrated production IP-Swiss, eggs from floor and free-range husbandry, no E-numbers. In addition, the processing must be carried out according to traditional artisan criteria as far as possible. We really leave the dough in the Zwirbelbrot for 18 hours until the dough has risen nicely. This allows it to develop volume and flavor. Only then is it baked. It is the rational things that also make a good croissant.
But how can you communicate that when a summit is known to have no logo?
Shay: In most channels, our products are sold virtually no name. The hotelier bakes our croissants, and the guests think he baked them himself. In the convenience sector, we have the opportunity to appear as a brand by branding the oven. Certain products can also be branded with the packaging, such as the bread bag. We now want to slowly push this, for example at gas stations, with our bakery stores, and in retail.
In Switzerland, an entry into the retail trade under the company name Hiestand is not an issue, said Wolfgang Werlé - the new CEO of Hiestand, who came from the SAir Group this year. What does that mean for marketing?
Schai: Our customers are restaurateurs, hoteliers, are everywhere fresh baked goods are sold: at the point of sale in convenience stores, gas stations, bakeries. At such points, we will do our best to make it clear to consumers that they are buying a product from Hiestand. No one denies the baker's ability to make good peaks. At a gas station, on the other hand, the customer still has in the back of his mind that the peaks smell of gasoline. There, it is a need of our resellers to be able to increasingly appear and advertise with a baker's brand that inspires confidence: "Our croissants are so good because we have all the baker's know-how of Hiestand." In the B2B sector, we have many customers who have this wish themselves because they lack baking expertise.
In other words, your advertising is aimed primarily at B2B customers?
Schai: In the B2B channel, there are many business partners who want to communicate that they have not baked their own products, but are working with the market leader. We have been working on this new philosophy for about two years.
You have 700 products that are to be streamlined to 500. How do you reconcile that in terms of advertising?
Shay: We are a manufacturer brand. But there are very special products in our range, such as the "Cailler summit". Fredy Hiestand invented the Schoggi-Gipfel over 20 years ago...
Doesn't it come from Paris as "pain au chocolat"?
Schai: I think Hiestand invented the chocolate summit. A little more than two years ago, we thought about how we could make this product unique again. We said to ourselves: Why don't we take the best summit and the best branchli? In Switzerland, that's Cailler and Hiestand. So we marketed the combination under the name "Cailler summit". In less than three years, this has now become our fourth best-selling product. But you can't put a label on the product. That's why we developed a bag printed with the Cailler and Hiestand logos. In addition, there are rotairs in the store and other sales material. This and a new roll of Gerber fondue are the few products we are promoting individually so far. Everything else we sell under an umbrella brand.
Hiestand has entered into a new joint venture with Coop under the name Hicopain. Doesn't that lead to a dispersal of the brand?
Schai: The end consumers will never see the logo. Coop lacked additional know-how for baking, and instead of founding a new company itself, Coop realized its expansion plans in the form of a joint venture with us. Hicopain is a purely imaginary name, in which the play on words Copain also resonates as a partner.
Your croissants are also in great demand in Germany, Poland, Austria, and especially in Asia. How do you promote the foreign market?
Schai: In Asia, the "Made in Switzerland" concept is very important for us. The "Swiss made" seal of quality is also one of the reasons why we went to Asia. We have nine stores in Singapore and are very much in the process of setting up in Japan. There, the Japanese enjoy a croissant in the same way that we Swiss eat sushi here. They are very conscious of our croissants and pay six francs a piece for them. That's why we work very strongly in our advertising with the subjects of Swiss mountains and Swiss landscapes. This visual image with beautiful landscapes conveys naturalness.
As a consequence of September 11, Hiestand withdrew from its American business. Hiestand's shares also suffered as a result. What have you been doing in investor relations since then?
Shay: We don't run any special image campaigns. But we are always happy to invite investors. And then, as always, communication for us goes through the stomach. Even at our annual press conference, we appear with an oven and stage a beautiful bakery world. Our image goes through the nose and then through the mouth. Scent marketing and in-store baking works for everyone as a positively charged world.
Do you work with an outside professional for your advertising, or are your campaigns homespun?
Shay: We do most of our advertising ourselves. We have a professional in-house advertising agency with three graphic designers. This ranges from image brochures to annual reports and packaging ideas. But we do selectively bring in external expertise, for example for DM in the B2B area. We have about 6000 different customers, from the small Beck to the large food corporation. They have different needs, everything happens very quickly, so we have to be able to react in-house. In the future, however, we will also get more external know-how in the B2C area.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri
