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| 19.07.04 | |
| more Swiss stories? |
Swiss is "in"
Delegates to Swiss ad industry
symposium discuss the virtues of the national identity.
The white cross on a red background is, it appears, "in". Not just, says the Swiss marketing magazine Persoenlich, as a result of the recent European football championships, during which thousands of football fans took the opportunity to cheer on their team wrapped in the national colours. Switzerland's most notable national system is increasingly in favour as a fashionable promotional tool, so much so that the Swiss ad industry trade association, Schweizer Werbung, organised a symposium on the subject. |
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First to address delegates, Persoenlich says, was Urs Binggeli of Wirz Corporate. In contrast to the 70s and 80s, Binggeli believes, when the Swiss identity came under a much more critical eye, the current mood is one of new patriotism and this new mood is finding its expression through marketing. The extent to which this feeling is permeating society is further demonstrated by the fact that Switzerland's Museum of Communication, in Berne, is organising an exhibition in mid-October on the subject of "Weiss auf rot" ("White on red"), Persoenlich says. From a practical and legal viewpoint, Célia Ullmann told delegates, those
looking to use the cross as a promotional tool should first consider whether they are
seeking to incorporate it into an official trademark or whether they intend to use it
purely as a decorational item. In the former case, this will only be permissible when the
brand in question bears some relation to the Swiss nation as a whole, such as in the case
of the postal service, Schweizer Post. Its use as a trademark on mass-market goods is more
problematic, although there is no limitation on its decorative use on such products. Those
not respecting local lawas on intellectual property in this respect can be liable for
fines of up to SFr. 5,000 or even prison. |
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