Monday, March 01, 2010

Stop the Press! We sell Coca-Cola now!


Is anyone as amazed as I am that Migros (a large supermarket chain in Switzerland) is running an ad campaign to tell the world that they now sell things as unique as Coca-Cola? Wow. It's like it's news that people in Switzerland do drink things besides Rivella.

Let's see. Coke has been around since 1886, so Migros is only, well, 124 years behind the times. Now that's a thing to advertise.

17 comments:

JuanitaTortilla said...

I WAS surprised indeed!
When I saw cartons of Coke, I thought, 'Hey, why haven't I seen these before?'. I still remember a Coke hunt while my sister was here. She's a Coke addict (the cola, not the other coke). Man, did we have a hard time. Denner did / does have a limited selection of Coca-Cola. Now that big brother Migros has it, I am now less embarrassed about visitors asking me, 'Don't people here drink Coke?'

Well, I don't. Never liked it. Sorry.

Chantal said...

Yeah, it's amazing. Switzerland will never be the same again.

M'dame Jo said...

Actually, this is kind of a big deal - if you put it back in the context. It's only been a few years since Migros has sold other brands than its own (Mivella for Rivella, Eimalzin for Ovomaltine, etc.) . This is what made the main difference between Coop and Migros, even though it's not as obvious today. Now Migros has "brands" and Coop has its own product lines. BUT the only non-Migros brand that Migros has had for decade is... Pepsi. And I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Coop only had Coke at the time.

So, I guess you can (doubly) compare the Migros-Coop sides with the Coke-Pespi opposition (which is kind of a big deal for many people too).

Well, of course, this is not a matter of high importance, but from a (swiss) marketing point of view - and for people who've been here long enough to see the evolution - this is a pretty strong argument and I think it is worth advertising in the sense that it means something for people.

Did that make sense?

M'dame Jo said...

And I hit "publish" instead of "edit". I wanted to add something. The founder of Migros, Gottlieb Duttweiler, had a "philosophy." The idea was to bypass all intermediate distributors, so he could sell cheaper products and also to "do good", this is why Migros doesn't have alcohol or cigarettes, for example, or gives money for culture. This is why it was a bit of a scandal when they bought Denner in 2007...

This aspects makes selling Coke a bigger symbol (of how Migros has changed even though they say they haven't).

These are very swiss considerations, I'm aware of that, but that is actually swiss culture ;-)

mrsmac said...

Haven't seen the ads but I will admit my friend and I exclaimed, "Oh! Migros is selling Coke now!" when we saw it in the store the other day.

It's the little things...

Chantal said...

Hi M'dame Jo,

It's interesting to hear the Swiss perspective. I get that it's a big deal since Migros didn't always carry brand products and I wonder what made them change their minds besides making money. But I don't understand why they can't sell both Pepsi and Coke...

Anyhow, I'm sure you can imagine, to an American used to stores the sizes of football fields where you can buy every product on earth (including either Pepsi or Coke or R/C or every generic brand out there), it does seem funny for a store to advertise selling a product that's as worldwide as Coke. But I get why they are doing it.

M'dame Jo said...

What made then change their mind beside making money? Making money!

Yes, I understand where you come from.

Funnily, I've felt pretty lost in the US, because I could buy 67 brands of sodas (who cares?), but I had the hardest time finding good, fresh, unprocessed products and I felt that my choice was extremely limited. I probably told you how many shops I had to go through to find ground sage or good coffee.

M'dame Jo said...

And again, I hit "publish" instead of "edit."

I also wanted to remark that it's impressive how strongly we're all conditioned by how we grew up. I'm not used to have so many brands of sodas or toilet papers, but I don't see the point of having so many of them anyways. But put me in a Safeways, I will cry of despair in front of the chocolate, bread, and cheese displays and walk by 10 meters long chips and snacks displays without even looking at them.

People don't get why I actually loose weight whenever I travel to the US. I can't live on steak and lettuce ;-)

Wide Eyed Gypsy said...

I agree that the quality of foodstuff available in Switzerland is superior to the France or Italy. However, focus on quality doesn't necessarily preclude giving the customer a choice - if that means Coke, Pepsi and all things in between, why not?

Chantal said...

I agree there are too many sodas, chips, and processed foods in the U.S. and that the quality of produce and breads is much better here! But like WEG, I would still like to have a few choices sometimes. But huge football field stores now make me dizzy too.

mrshev said...

Chantal, I hope it's okay, but I am writing a mini review of your Blog (which I love, by the way - so it is a good review, honest!) and that I shall be linking to you so you may get a small spike in traffic (very small...).

Anyway, just giving you a heads-up. Love the blog, makes me laugh.
mrshev.com

Chantal said...

mrshev,

I love reviews. Especially positive ones. Thanks in advance!

cadiz12 said...

so i'm guessing they missed taking part in that "teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony" thing, eh?

Chantal said...

Probably they were there singing and drinking the stuff. You just didn't notice because they were just there unofficially. Kind of like how they are with the EU. Take the benefits. Not the responsibilities.

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