"We are currently working intensively on a Swiss slogan".
As part of its repositioning, MediaMarkt Switzerland has opened the doors to its Experience Pop-Up at Zurich HB. Werbewoche.ch has already reported on this. In this interview, we shed light on the motives with CEO Stefan Fraude and Marketing Director Josipa Babic.
Werbewoche.ch: We are in ShopVille at Zurich HB for the opening of the first MediaMarkt Experience Pop-Up. Why this touchpoint?
Stefan Fraude, CEO MediaMarkt Switzerland: Our pop-up stands for our path to "Experience Electronics". Because we offer more than just products, especially services and experiences around sustainability. We call it "Better Way". Here you will find repairs, trade-ins, refurbished items and many products that carry our "Better Way" sustainability label.
At the beginning, you presented market development figures: According to these figures, the overall market for consumer electronics has moved sideways in the last 2-3 years, with the exception of telecommunications.
Stefan Fraude: In fact, the overall value of consumer electronics, including digital aspects such as e-commerce, click & collect, and ship from store, has increased. More than 50 percent of the market is now digital.
And where does MediaMarkt stand?
Unfortunately, I cannot provide any information on this. But what I can say is this: Our Group target is a digital share of 30 percent, but of course we adapt to the respective market conditions. What is still growing very well at the moment is in the telecom area with mobile telephony.
Now you have developed a strategy with cornerstones to accommodate digital growth.
The cornerstones of this strategy, with the vision "Experience Electronics Champion of Switzerland!" as our goal, are Employee Experience, Shopping Experience, Usage Experience, and Impact Experience. We want to move from pure product sales to a service and experience platform. Employee experience is about transformation among employees. We want to empower them to inspire customers in every interaction. In the Shopping Experience, we're focusing omnichannel shopping on "digital first" to create an experience with real added value at every touchpoint. And in the Usage Experience, we want to deliver a range of services and solutions that simplify or enhance the use of consumer electronics. And then there is the impact experience, which offers customers opportunities to consciously shape their consumption of consumer electronics.
And this pop-up is part of that strategy, right?
Exactly, it's a marketing vehicle that represents our future approaches to "impact experience" and brings the elements that drive us closer to the customer:inside.
Click here for the report on the opening of the Experience Pop-Up.
What marketing measures are planned to successfully implement this strategy?
Josipa Babic: Our aim is to drive qualitative traffic to our online and offline point-of-sale by repositioning the MediaMarkt brand. This repositioning means moving from a product-centric and slightly dusty image to a customer-centric and modern image. As a MediaMarkt brand, we want to move closer to Swiss customers. This has some strategic implications. We are currently working intensively on a Swiss slogan.
How autonomous are you in your decisions for Switzerland?
We have numerous projects that are being developed exclusively for the Swiss market, independently of our parent company. In addition, we will consider other strategic implications, such as the use of language. In our verbal communications, we would like to move more in the direction of Swiss German, while we will of course stick to High German in our written communications. We know from studies that High German stands for competence. Nevertheless, it is important to use the local language, i.e. Swiss German, in order to establish a closeness to Swiss customers.
Can we expect a "revival" of the commercials with the legendary closing sentence "I'll just have to tell Urs that"?
That is an interesting question. Unfortunately, however, I have to disappoint you. It is unlikely that we will go down this path. We are currently intensively evaluating how we can successfully position "Experience Electronics Champions" in Switzerland. We often hear from our customers that they miss our humor. We are now bringing the humor back, especially via our social media channels.
What can we look forward to?
The social media strategy for this is in the final development phase. Before we define and implement a precise strategy, we are currently focusing more on humor. If you visit our channels, be it TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, you will notice that our social media channels are in the process of shaping the strategy towards humor. In the meantime, you will see many humorous posts from our employee:s.
Do you work with agencies?
Josipa Babic: Yes, we work with various agencies, especially on asset creation. We also hired a new Head of Digital and Media, an expert from the industry who ensures that media funds are used efficiently.
And what about advertising investments?
We've invested a lot in recent years and are now working on using our media funds more efficiently, as I said before. The exact amount has not yet been determined, but it will be in the double-digit millions.
This article originally appeared on markt-kom.com - https://www.werbewoche.ch/de/marketing/2023-10-08/wir-arbeiten-derzeit-intensiv-an-einem-schweizer-slogan/
