Once upon a time there was a hardware store

Nine generations in 250 years have kept the Pestalozzi family business moving and continuously growing successfully. With the basic idea "Moving together. Since 1763", the communications agency Renzen in Aarau won the pitch to accompany the anniversary with a campaign and various measures throughout the year. One of the client's wishes was to incorporate the elements "water" and "movement" into the campaign. "Water plays a decisive role in our concept, especially on the event track," explains CD Hanno Lietz. For example, "festive" leather boat trips with customers on Lake Zurich will take place on 20 evenings next summer. The theme of "movement" manifests itself on the one hand in the claim, but has also played a major role in a winter sports day in Davos as an event and gift day for employees. "Movement" can also be discovered in four advertisements thematically and in the wording. It should be noted that "moving" is always to be understood ambiguously: physically setting something in motion and mentally/psychologically/emotionally moving and being moved.

Visions for the future

The blue, beveled "Pestalozzi Column" is the focal point of the advertisements. It can be derived from the logo and is also a recurring element in Pestalozzi's corporate design. The column stands as a key visual for the company with its long tradition. Four motifs were implemented: Celebrating the anniversary together (the column is unveiled), moving people and markets (workers move the column), reliable family business (employees from different eras in front of the column), fit for the future (older and younger employees with tablet as a symbol for knowledge transfer from generation to generation).

As a sustainable implementation, an anniversary brochure of 56 pages was realized. The aim was to present the past, the present and the future of the Pestalozzi family business. Federal Councillor and Minister of Economic Affairs Johann Schneider-Ammann could be won for a greeting. On the subject of "Yesterday", various guest authors had their say. These business friends, former employees or family members describe their view of things, sometimes in surprisingly amusing contributions, and thus also give the company a face. With a look into the future, the brochure naturally also introduces the now ninth generation of entrepreneurs in the Wiser, Burckhardt and Pestalozzi families. The whole thing is embedded in a historical context by the boxes "What moved the world", "What moved Switzerland" and "What moved Zurich".

Andreas Panzeri

The company
The Pestalozzi Group, with its headquarters in Dietikon, is active in the fields of steel technology, building services, building envelopes, logistics and prefabrication. The 9th generation family business employs around 300 people and has a range of 48,000 articles. The pictures on the left show impressions of the employee event to mark the anniversary in Davos. On the right are presenter Jann Billeter with the owners Matthias and Dietrich Pestalozzi.