Sottens Remains the Village of Radio Pioneers

In French-speaking Switzerland, the name Sottens has the same significance as «Beromünster» once did in German-speaking Switzerland. In 1939, an antenna mast for the medium-wave broadcasts of French-speaking Switzerland’s national radio station was installed in this small village in the canton of Vaud. As was the case with Beromünster, Sottens subsequently became synonymous with this station. And just as with Beromünster, those days are now a thing of the past. The radio station «Option Musique»—the counterpart to «Musigwälle»—will broadcast exclusively via DAB starting December 6. For the 100,000 fans of «Option Musique,» this switch means they’ll need to purchase a DAB receiver immediately. To communicate this, Radio Television Suisse has commissioned the advertising agency Numéro 10 to create a branding campaign. Gilles Aeby and Cendrine Gafner are highlighting Sottens as a «place of pioneers.» In the old days, the first antenna was erected here. In modern times, Sottens is the first village in Switzerland to be fully equipped with DAB transmitters. To ensure this core message of the campaign rings true, Numéro 10 carried out a nighttime guerrilla campaign, placing a gift package containing a DAB receiver on the doorstep of every household. Since then, the campaign has portrayed the 280 residents of Sottens as the great pioneers of DAB radio. Three print ads and two TV spots also demonstrate that listening to the radio via DAB is technically very easy to use. The agency worked with people who were as authentic as possible to serve as “DAB pioneers.” They have since become internationally known. The second TV commercial playfully shows how tourists from Japan are already traveling to Sottens to marvel at the first village in the world where radio is received exclusively via DAB. Andreas Panzeri