Santa always knows what to do
Swisscom's traditional Christmas campaign has kicked off. However, it lacks the «same old, same old» effect. Tim Alexander on Santa Claus, Tina Turner, and the history behind storytelling.
WW: You have now been responsible for marketing at Swisscom for a year. How satisfied are you with what you have achieved?
Tim Alexander: My first year at Swisscom was a good one. We are delighted to have just received the GfM Marketing Award, which we won at the end of October. Of course, it also recognizes our historic achievement in marketing. Despite this, the laudation is more precise: We are close to our customers, tell new and inspiring stories and know how to package our services well in terms of communication. In general, we have made the transition to becoming a service provider and have been able to make this clear to our customers. We have also been awarded the "Spot of the Month" twice this year, with our TV spot "I Swear" for Natel Infinity and now also with Swisscom TV 2.0. In addition, we have worked with Tina Turner as a brand ambassador, which is also a personal highlight for me. It's a surprising and very different story for our messenger and telephony app iO, which we positioned and publicized with Tina Turner.
New advertising for new products: Has this also resulted in a new team internally?
Not at all. We've just simplified the structures. We are still the same people, but now with a shared vision: we want to create "world-class" communication that is talked about positively in Switzerland. And that is also the feedback we are getting from the industry. Our advertising has become even more visible, not through increased media pressure, but through surprising ideas and clarity in the message...
The budget has remained the same? We have even reduced it somewhat. In other words, we have invested more in online. At the same time, we were able to increase the value of the brand and the return on investment. We are very satisfied with the business and communication success.
The environment is very lively. You read about new offers for cable TV or cell phone subscriptions almost every day. How do you perceive this?
Competition is getting tougher and louder. My opinion: as long as it benefits the customer, I can't have anything against it. It's okay for providers to outbid each other. Last year, we felt that this had a positive impact on our business success. We are the market leader in all areas and continue to see that people want to deal with us. We don't notice any migration. People stay - because we do everything we can to keep them. Not just in terms of communication and marketing. We are reliable, which is appreciated in Switzerland. Swisscom also combines this with "Swissness" in the sense of responsibility towards society. We also have the theme of "simplicity". People understand what Swisscom says. And you can also use all our products intuitively. The third is "inspiration". We show new possibilities and accompany our customers in the networked world. In the daily growing confusion, customers choose what they can really trust. And we have long been the first port of call in this respect and intend to remain so.
Is brand communication still important when customers are constantly looking for the cheapest bargains, or does trade communication win out in the end?
We also analyzed this carefully last year. We firmly believe that both are needed: positioning communication that pays into the brand. And it needs communication that motivates customers to buy our products. With this "brand-trade gap", you have to get both right. If the brand is well positioned in the sense of being trustworthy, simple and inspiring, then the right and relevant offers must follow to activate it. We have come a long way here too. In the online area, we are using retargeting and social CRM as well as new "performance display advertising" to bring really relevant messages as close as possible to the customer's wishes in real time. To this end, we launched an image campaign at brand level this year with the "Land of Opportunity". Because we believe that we are there for Switzerland, that it is good that Swisscom exists and that we therefore also accept our responsibility. We invest in further training, flexible working time models, sustainability and ultimately CHF 1.7 billion per year in the network so that Switzerland can remain the "land of opportunity". Our role in this country is important, and we want to communicate this. But not in a loud, overbearing way, but by using real examples. I firmly believe that the louder people shout and the more offers there are on the market, the more important it is for a brand to take on the role of a beacon. But you have to play it out, and we have succeeded in doing that this year.
Which agency does what for Swisscom?
When we talk about brand and trade, we have sorted them according to segments, i.e. customer groups. Our Berlin home is our agency that works for both brand and trade in the private customer segment. The second very important agency is Serviceplan from Zurich. It looks after the entire SME business customer segment as well as the enterprise business. Another important agency partner is our media agency Media Schneider from Zurich. There are also many other partners with whom we work on a basis of trust. In all of this, it is crucial that we are active across the board. This means that marketing and brand communication at Swisscom is centrally responsible for the communication of all customer segments. The interplay between positioning and activation comes from a single source for all target groups.
What is your experience of working with Heimat?
I inherited the collaboration with Heimat, and I live quite well with it. Swisscom has never won so many national and international awards. The "All Eyes on S4" campaign and the iO campaign with Tina Turner have been discussed all over the world. These are ideas from home. On the other hand, I would like to point out that all production-related topics are realized in Switzerland. Sometimes it just helps to take a look from the outside and then get the best out of the whole team. What's actually new is that we work differently with our agencies. There is a round table where the various agencies and project teams come together. We have fixed contracts with our agencies. This means that our partners don't have to prove themselves every time, but can work on the project. They are supposed competitors, but they are all working on the same challenge. As Swisscom, we actively support and manage this process. We don't take ourselves out and simply let the best idea pitch, but we are the drivers and bring the partners to the table to create something together. Because only when the best agencies sit together do we get the best results.
How big is Swisscom's marketing department?
Marketing at Swisscom has more than 400 people. The communications team consists of around 50 people. We have project managers there who put together their team depending on the focus of the campaign. When PR becomes important, this department is involved right from the start. If we have a particular online focus, then these colleagues are already involved in the development.
What else have you changed?
We haven't changed that much. We've just optimized our collaboration. We don't approach a topic in a competitive situation between the agencies, but instead look for ideas together to win over clients. In addition, we actively collaborate as clients and have a shared vision and the will to create "world-class" communication. That is the real innovation: the will to perfection.
Once again about Tina Turner. What was the feedback like in detail?
It is quite unusual for Tina Turner to advertise at all. The last time she did this for a European brand was 27 years ago. The fact that she was then still working for Swisscom was a surprise effect that had an impact. The message that, as a Swiss woman, she also recommends iO, the country's telephony and messenger service, was very well received. And it was surprisingly told. That's what we aim to do, to bring such small stories with a big impact to the customer. It worked very well with Tina Turner. We now have around one million downloads of the iO app. But it was also a risk. If you want to be brave, you have to try something new. I'm really proud that we at Swisscom have this courage and don't stand still when it comes to advertising. We are constantly looking for new storytelling ideas.
Is storytelling more than just a buzzword?
Our responsibility is to ensure that employees do not see "storytelling" as a buzzword, but instead ask themselves: What does this mean for my day-to-day work? We have formed a transformation team for this purpose. In addition to PR, it also has storytelling in its name and is headed by Michèle Westhues and Pascal Rosenberger. Their team ensures that employees understand: What are the benefits of storytelling? How do I find a suitable story for a new product? How do I make the creative leap so that people then continue to tell the story? Our job is to tell stories with the product, about the product and around the product, instead of sending out one-way information.
The new Christmas campaign also shows such approaches. What is the basic idea?
We asked ourselves: What does it take to support the Christmas business? The answer is an activating trade campaign, because Swisscom offers the best Christmas presents with the best advice. This is new information for our customers, because normally they would rather go to a shopping center or a well-known department store for their Christmas presents. If the Swisscom store is now positioned as the place for the best Christmas gifts, we are doing this by hiring the best Christmas gift expert in the world. The best advice comes from Santa Claus, because he knows everything about what we humans want. We tell this on the trade level with a little wink and the appropriate offers under the motto: "Christmas can come".
Is the lead medium the TV commercial?
We don't really have a lead medium anymore. We are talking about 360° campaigns. Some of our customers will discover the message with Santa Claus on TV. But many others will follow the story online, become aware of it via posters or advertisements and come into contact with the idea at other touchpoints. In addition to the "brand trade scissors", we also create a very detailed "message cascading". Not every medium has to tell everything, but the story is told further at the various points of contact with us. The film has to whet the appetite for more, and later there are publicity reports, for example, that explain in more detail what we have to offer. Through our social media channels, we receive feedback from our customers in real time. This means that the campaign can be constantly developed further and the messages remain current and relevant.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri
You can find the campaign and the commercials in our Online article.
