Siroop on green

The Siroop case has been the subject of much discussion. The trading platform, which was originally launched by Coop and Swisscom and ended up belonging entirely to the orange retail giant, proved to be a bottomless pit. According to Handelszeitung is said to have spent 21 million Swiss francs on advertising alone in the two years of its existence. The tacky Siroop campaign increased awareness abruptly, but also caused outrage and rejection among many consumers. Neither the campaign nor the clear price or other advantages provided any real reasons why people should buy from the online marketplace.

In April 2018, it became known: Coop has had enough. It had watched long enough and lost enough money. At the end of the year, the e-commerce project, which should have become serious competition for Digitec Galaxus from Migros, will be pulled the plug.

Instead of focusing on the Coop City department store brand in the digital non-food sector and equipping it with its own online store, CEO Joos Sutter announced in June to the SonntagsZeitungFor the time being, the Microspot.ch card will be used. "We will not enter the online sector with the department stores as quickly as planned because this is very complex," said Sutter. Until that time comes, the company will use the sales channels of Microspot.ch and Coop@home.

Expansion of product range has priority

The product groups that performed best on the Siroop platform are now being gradually integrated into the Microspot environment. For the time being, the primary aim is to broaden the product range. IT and consumer electronics will now be joined by the profitable categories of office, DIY/garden and toys. While the marketplace concept was the top priority for Siroop, Coop wants to use Microspot in an initial phase to build up its own strong product range. "Only in a second phase will we take up the idea of the marketplace again," says CEO Sutter.

Microspot.ch is being comprehensively repositioned. The reputation of the home electronics discounter is to give way to the claim of being a comprehensive online department store. Without losing its own DNA in the process. In future, Microspot will be the point of contact for the entire non-food sector of the Coop Group.

Transfer in the new football capital

The major repositioning is being kicked off with a campaign centered around three commercials. They are accompanied by posters and performance marketing measures. The spots and posters were created by Komet. The Bern-based agency is now responsible for Microspot's communications and has taken over the client from local competitor Maxomedia.

Jeff Gerber, who has been in charge of Komet's creation since the beginning of the year, is not entirely innocent of this "transfer without notice". The former Executive Creative Director of Notch Interactive has already worked with Martin Koncilja, Head of Marketing at Interdiscount and Microspot, several times in the past and left a lasting impression. "In each case, working with Jeff Gerber was more of a dialogue than a client-contractor relationship. I've always liked that style, which is why we now chose Komet," Koncilja explains. A longer-term commitment is envisaged.

There is still a long way to go to complete repositioning, and communicative measures will be required again and again. "If the work and the success are right, I see no reason at all to change anything or to change the agency," says Koncilja.

To the interview with Martin Koncilja

Help fire boom

Jeff Gerber is excited about the opportunity to accompany Microspot's transformation in terms of communications: "The challenge is to help an existing brand that has been rather quiet to boom - as a creative agency, these are exactly the assignments we look for and love." Quiet, that is: in the past, Microspot has refrained from image advertising and focused primarily on communicating price leadership. With the opening up of the product range and the associated development of new target groups, the company is now also taking a new approach to advertising measures "Microspot.ch is a very high-performing online store, which we now want to build into a strong brand with a revised image. However, it remains essential that consumers understand what this campaign is all about - namely the growing product range.

The three spots are each dedicated to a new product category. The office and DIY range is promoted with the first two films. This will be followed in October by the third spot, which promotes the toy range that is central to the Christmas business. It is currently being finalized and will be released in October.

Thomas Häusermann

This article is from the current print edition of Werbewoche.

Responsible at Microspot.ch: Martin Koncilja (Head of Marketing Microspot.ch and Interdiscount, Member of Division Management); Franco Locatelli (Head of Advertising). Responsible at Komet: Corinne Hert, Consulting Manager; Sascha Schilt, Consulting; Daniel Müller, Text/Concept; Claudio Parente, Art Direction; Ramon Niederhauser, Graphics; Jeff Gerber, Creative Direction. Film production: Zeitsprung Commercial; Selim Sevinc, producer; Tim Löhr, director; Tonstudio Z. Photography & Image Editing: Detail.