Alperol

It’s 15 years since I first marvelled about Aperol in these pages, and I hate to think how much of the stuff I’ve knocked back in that time. Funny that I commented in the link that Martini and Cinzano seemed to win the ubiquitous prize - it’s quite the opposite these days.

Of course, plenty of other contenders want a slurp of the Aperol glass (they’re usually big enough, those glasses) - and I blogged about a Swedish rival here. 

But while Andalö at least made some attempt at a backstory, my latest discovery doesn’t even pretend.

And maybe that’s refreshing.

It was waiting to happen, really. The South Tyrol “symbiosis of contrasts” (‘scuse my BS) in an “Aperitivo Alpino” - with citrus fruits plus Alpine herbs, fruity and bitter, it’s the taste of South Tyrol - Alpitz.

While there’s no invented backstory, the brand comes from a long-established distillery in South Tyrol, the pack design with its cheerful primary colours is very fetching - and it tastes pretty good, spritzed up with a bit of Prosecco and sparkling water. 

Now, I’m wondering how long it'll take some bright marketing spark to rediscover Cynar?

RETROWURST: Nutella November 2005

 

Eighteen years ago, I was celebrating the 40th birthday of Nutella in Extrawurst, and my hm-hm-hm-hmth birthday. For those with a sweet tooth, here’s the history and cult status of the chocolate hazelnut spread as I saw it in 2005.

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As I have recently been celebrating my birthday, I thought I would write a piece about a brand that is celebrating its 40^th birthday this year in Germany.

 

On the subject of brands having birthdays, this does seem to have become “this year’s thing” for marketers here, perhaps in the absence of anything new to say. We had thirty years of IKEA last year and now every corner shop, local newspaper and frozen pizza seems to be celebrating some birthday or another. Just as the market here has been deluged with “flavour of the year/season” for the last few years, we now seem to be beset with birthdays. Most of it seems to be an excuse to dig out some “retro” pack designs and revel in the worst excesses of the 70s, 80s or whatever decade your brand was born into in a rather self-congratulatory way rather than offering people any new benefit or real reward for buying you in the first place.

 

In this case, however, I feel that the celebrations are justified: the brand in question is Nutella which I believe is one of the most “present” brands in the German psyche. Over 100 million jars of the stuff are sold per year with the average buyer consuming something like 1kg of the stuff per year (oh dear, think of the calories!) and Nutella really is a brand that one could say has achieved cult status in this country. A client of mine (non-German) recently made something of an error of judgment (in my opinion) when she recently turned down the prospect of a co-operation between her brand and Nutella on the basis that Nutella “was too unhealthy”. While, of course, she is right in thinking that Nutella is not among the list of top 5 healthy things to put in your mouth, what she missed is that Nutella is allowed to be unhealthy just because it’s so loved here – like  Bratwurst and Pils it may pile on the calories but it is an integral part of German culture – a rare accolade for a non-German brand!

 

Although officially only 40 years old, Nutella’s origins go further back: to the 1940s in fact. During the war years, chocolate was a rarity, a delicacy and cocoa was in short supply so the Piedmontese confectioner Pietro Ferrero experimented with making a cream out of cocoa and roasted hazelnuts. From the beginning onwards, Ferrero’s experiment was a success and even incorporated an interesting retail concept in 1940s/50s Italy whereby schoolchildren could go to the local corner shop with a piece of bread and get it spread with the forerunner of Nutella.

 

In 1964 the nut-nougat crème got the name Nutella. Ferrero Germany had already opened its doors in 1956 and introduced Nutella in 1965. Nutella really created a whole new market in Germany for a country used to either jam or honey as sweet spreads for the breakfast bread.

 

There are now several generations of Germans who have grown up with Nutella – it’s rather like Marmite in the UK but it doesn’t have quite that extreme love-hate relationship: everyone loves Nutella except for a few extreme health campaigners. Nutella signifies childhood and family: there is something very motherly and reassuring about the name, the pack design (almost unchanged from the original of 1965), the shape of the jar and the sweet, creamy product itself. And, unlike Marmite, it is pretty versatile stuff: you can make cakes with it, slap it on pancakes and Nutella seems to be a fairly major component of most of the confectionary products that Ferrero produces these days.

 

The cult status of Nutella in Germany is observable through the sheer presence of the brand in Germany. It’s not just on practically every breakfast table but also highly visible on pancake stands in the city centre or at Fests, on T-shirts (the aforementioned unchanged pack design), in bookshops (“Das große Nutella Kochbuch”), on e-Bay (collectors of promotional jars or giveaways) and there are even Nutella cafés in some city centres where you can have a cup of coffee and eat your fill of various Nutella concoctions – all this in addition to the expected supermarket and classic media presence. Of course, anything that is successful and cult spawns cover versions. In Nutella’s case they are numerous and quite blatant in their copying of the mother of all hazelnut spreads, from Lidl’s Choco Nussa to Aldi’s Nutoka but none of them have quite managed to copy the subtleties of Ferrero’s secret recipe.

 

Of course, cult status brings you more than your fair share of urban myths. In Nutella’s case these include the positive (“Nutella is a wonder cure for cold sores and other forms of Herpes.”) and the not-so desirable (“Nutella gets its colour from cow blood.”). But none of these myths seem to be so extreme as those associated with McDonald’s or Procter & Gamble’s brands – maybe Nutella’s “Italian Mamma” personality makes it less vulnerable to attack than those brands which are assumed to be run and controlled by George W. Bush doppelgangers.

 

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Nutella’s cult status is that much of this comes not so much from TV advertising but from in-store and on-pack promotions. While there have been some memorable TV campaigns (involving some of the usual suspects here such as the ubiquitous Boris Becker), it is the special promotions that have become collector’s items. A 2kg jar was available in 2000 for the millennium, for example, and the 40^th birthday promotional packs were soon sold out. These included stencils of characters from Asterix concealed in the lid which was a repeat of a promotion originally from the 1970s or 1980s.

It seems to be fitting, then, that Nutella celebrated its 40^th birthday with a spectacular promotion: the biggest breakfast in the world. No less than 27,854 Nutella fans turned up to the event which earned Nutella a place in the Guinness Book of records. So, here’s to the next 40 years unless the extreme healthy-eating killjoys get there first!

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Only a few months after writing this article, I suffered a public humiliation that I’ll never live down. I took part in an on-air radio quiz and was asked to name which German football players featured in the Nutella ad for the 2006 World Cup. I didn’t know. Me, working in advertising, with a football-crazy husband. 

I still hang my head in shame.

As for Nutella, well, the healthy eating police are still stomping around, but not to any great effect. The latest member of the Nutella family is biscuits.

And me? Sorry, but I still prefer Marmite. I’m not that German.

  

RETROWURST: Germany’s European Neighbours October 2004

 

I was a little startled when I read this Extrawurst from October 2004 about Germany’s European neighbours. As well as a write-up on the two European countries that Germans are most in love with, there’s a quick round-the-clock of the nine immediate neighbouring lands.

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Germany is often described as the centre of Europe- the word ‘heart’ has perhaps too many emotional connotations for a people who pride themselves on Ordnung. And, being one of Europe’s largest countries, Germany has a lot of neighbours, nine in total. I thought it would be interesting this month to have a look at how the Germans typically view their neighbours and which products and brands are associated with these countries.

 

As is typical with neighbours, the German view of the people of the lands surrounding them is not all roses. Views range from ‘dull but tolerated’ to out-and-out rivalry and hate! But before we come onto that, let’s have a look at the European countries that can- in the eyes of most Germans - do no wrong. Number one for most Germans has to be Italy. Italy is far enough away and separated by mountains and a couple of other countries not to suffer the over-familiarity and thus contempt of the countries on the doorstep. Italy stands for the ideal lifestyle for many Germans and there is something for everyone from the beaches, to city style and culture, to the mountains of the South Tyrol. Italian food and drink are adored by the Germans, the supermarkets are brimming with Italian brand names such as Barilla, Averna and Ramazotti and there is an Italian restaurant or ice cream parlour on just about every street corner. One needs look no further than the irritatingly successful Ferrari/Schumacher combination of German efficiency and determination combined with Italian passion and flair to see this relationship in action.

 

A little further away but also beloved by the Germans is Ireland. The combination of Celtic tradition, a pride in beer brewing and a love of music is seen by a lot of Germans as an idealized version of themselves. Groups such as The Corrs or The Kelly Family are very popular and Kerrygold and Guinness are well-known brand names. Irish pubs can be found in even the tiniest of villages in Germany and the only cheese you are likely to find in a German supermarket from the British Isles will be Irish, rather than English, Cheddar.

 

So, back to the neighbours, going around in a clockwise direction. We’ll start with France. Germany has a rather uneasy relationship with France. Although Germany ganged up with France last year to form the backbone of ‘Old Europe’ against Bush’s war, past history still bears its influence. On the one hand, there is a grudging admiration for the French ‘Joie de Vivre’ and general enjoyment of the good things in life but there is some feeling that the French are rather too much in love with themselves, don’t work hard enough and don’t take enough pride in their homes, towns or environment generally. Products and brands associated with France are Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Elf, cheese and wine, President and L’Oreal.

 

Luxembourg is associated with very little except money, more money and yet more money, so we’ll move quickly on to Belgium. The Germans view the Belgians as down-to-earth and a bit dull. Belgium is associated with cycle-racing, chocolates and beer, although the beer is not considered as good as German beer. This brings us on to Holland where the relationship seems to be a mutual hate: hate! There is a bit of a paradox with Holland as the Germans grudgingly admit that Amsterdam is actually quite a fun, interesting and cultural city but that the rest of Holland is full of big, narrow-minded, people who pollute the German autobahns with their caravans and litter at holiday-time! There are a fair number of brands and products associated with Holland: - Phillips, Heineken, Amstel, Cheese (Gouda & Edam), flowers and vegetables. But the overall impression is that be it beer, tomatoes, cheese or the people themselves, everything is a bit kitschy and tasteless. Needless to say, the people of Holland don’t have many kind words for the Germans either!

 

Moving further north we come to Germany’s Scandinavian neighbour, Denmark. Of all the neighbouring countries, Germany’s relationship with Denmark is perhaps the most positive. The Danes are considered to be a happy people, proud of their country with a very fair and modern social system. Products and brands associated with Denmark are Beer (Tuborg and Carlsberg), dairy products (Arla), bacon (Tulip) and fish products.

 

Unfortunately, the Germans generally have a negative view of Poland and the Polish people, perhaps because, reading between the lines, they feel threatened and still guilty about history. At its most bigoted, which, sadly, seems to include a fair proportion of Germans, particularly older people and those from the former East Germany, the Polish are regarded as car thieves or at very best casual workers for the harvest. Although the Germans are quite happy to adopt a sportsman such as a boxer or footballer with Polish origins as one of their own, the general view seems to be that the Polish are lazy and unmotivated. Perhaps this will change if more young Germans can throw off their prejudices and see for themselves the dynamism and development of Poland in the last ten years or so. Products associated with Poland include certain types of sausages and poultry (ducks and geese) traditionally consumed in Germany in November and December including the Advent and Christmas period.

 

The German view of their Czech neighbours is much kinder. The Czechs are respected for their sporting success in Ice Hockey and Football. They are thought to be a nice bunch of people who one could drink a gemütlich beer with. The Skoda/VW partnership symbolizes this relationship and other brands associated with Czech Republic are beers such as Budvar.

 

Austria is a very popular holiday destination in winter and summer and the people are described as simple (in the positive sense), straightforward, a slow pace of life and gemütlich. There are plenty of food and drink products associated with Austria including wine, Schnapps, dried sausages (Landjäger), coffee, cakes such as Sachertorte and Germknödel (a sort of giant sweet dumpling). Also associated with Austria are crystal ornaments (Swarovski) and many products and brands associated with mountains, hiking and skiing such as Blizzard skis or Meindl hiking boots.

 

Finally, we come to Switzerland to complete the circle. The Swiss are thought to be somewhat snobby, stuck-up and obsessed with money. They are considered by the Germans to be proud and obstinate. Brands and products associated with Switzerland include Swatch and Smart, dairy products (Gruyere and Emmental, yoghurt, Emi, cheese fondue and raclette) plus big food corporations such as Nestle.

 

I have made a lot of generalisations here which probably do the Germans a disservice but it’s certainly a lot milder than a typical article in the Daily Mail about the Germans!

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The startling came not so much from what’s changed (not much, to be honest - the love affair with Italy is alive and well, fuelled by Aperol Spritz), more from how I have changed.

I admitted to generalising in the article and, boy - I certainly wouldn’t write something like that now! Is it ageing? Am I simply more sensitive and aware to nuances (for example, how there’s a kind of blending and merging aroud the borders rather than a sharp change)? 

Or was life just simpler then? 

More than a destination

This time last week, I was whizzing down the slopes of the sunny Dolomites, enjoying a swig or two of Lagrein, munching my way through a Speckplatte and generally admiring the marvellous efficiency of the ski lifts.

I have blogged before about destination marketing, but the South Tyrol, and the way it is marketed, is far more than a destination. The remit of the marketing stretches beyond tourism to agriculture, food and wine and now natural products, for example, in the health and beauty category.

At the heart of it is the umbrella brand created for this unique region, which was originally created and launched in 2005, and has evolved further since. The idea behind it all, or the essence of South Tyrol, if you like, is about "symbiosis of contrasts." Now, that might sound rather intellectual-bullsh*tty (and I am translating from German and Italian here) but it makes a lot of sense. In South Tyrol, Alpine meets Mediterranean, spontaneity co-exists with reliability and there's the best of both nature and culture. It shouldn't work, but somehow it does.

The logo is based on a real Dolomites panorama, and the colours are chosen to reflect the contrasts and variety. It's used from a quality sticker for apples through to livery for trains:

I even saw a ski-lift or two sporting these colours!

Normally, a dual-language brand expression could be a challenge. But, in another example of "symbiosis of contrasts", the use of both Italian and German adds richness rather than complexity.