Clearview North December 2013 - Issue 145 | Page 20

doors&windows

What do you think when
you find out something
is ‘german made’?
Something new has appeared next to the Roto logo… Featuring the black, red
and gold from a very familiar tricolour flag, it bears the legend ‘german made’.
Of course, Roto has always been a German
company, and is widely known as such.
The company has never tried to hide where
it comes from, but never before has used
its national identity in such a prominent
way.
The ‘german made’ motif will appear on
all corporate branding. It’ll be seen on Roto
brochures, advertisements, web pages and
business cards, and anywhere else the logo
appears.
So, what does ‘german
made’ mean to you?

When you read Roto’s official PR material
about the ‘german made’ branding, you’ll
see words like “reliability”, “thoroughness”
and “quality”, and phrases such as “precision
design” and “long service life”.
How then, have the Germans
managed to get this reputation?

A fair amount of credit must surely go to
Audi and their famous “Vorsprung Durch
Technik” - so well-known now, it’s difficult
to remember a time when no one had heard
it. But think back to 1982, when the British
advertising executive Sir John Hegarty visited
the Audi factory, saw the phrase on a historic
poster and decided he wanted to use it.
It’s hard to imagine now, but at this time
Audi was not a major brand in the UK and
not all of the public were even aware that it
was German.

20

DEC 2013

But how would the British, a
nation not generally known
for their ability to speak
other tongues, respond to a
German language slogan?

Initial research indicated the results might
not be favourable, but the Audi management
team at the time decided to go ahead.
Apparently their feeling was that they should
be proud of being a German company. As
this interview with John Hegarty shows, it
wasn’t just what the Audi adverts said, but the
way they said it, with actor Geoffrey Palmer
intoning, “’Vorsprung Durch Technik’ - as
they say in Germany”, that helped win people
over.
Of course, Audi continues to use the phrase
today.
Meanwhile, over in Munich, BMW markets
itself as “The Ultimate Driving Machine”.
The subtext of course being that their
German way of doing things is a big part of
the reason why.
When you look at a list of the largest
German companies, it becomes obvious that
manufacturing is only one aspect of German
business dominance. Names like Allianz,
Deutsche Bank and E.On are very familiar.
Still, it’s the reputation for quality, precision
engineering that people most associate with
Germany.
Porsche provides an example of how
German engineers don’t fiddle with anything
in the final product unless they are sure it
offers a genuine improvement. Just look at
some “then and now” pictures of the iconic
Porsche 911. Of course, over five decades
this has become a completely different car,
but the evolution has been so gradual, with
changes only being made when they have
been proven to make the car work better, that
both the original and current models are still
recognisable as a 911.
Don’t change things unless you can find
something that works better. It seems there’s
a similar kind of thinking going on behind
Angela Merkel’s wardrobe choices.

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Although born in Hamburg, Chancellor
Merkel famously spent much of her childhood
in what was then East Germany. The
communist state isn’t exactly remembered as
a powerhouse of business and industry, but it
seems even Germans living under a repressive
regime can come up with good designs.
Located east of the Brandenburg Gate, in
what was DDR territory, stands the 368 metre
tall ‘Fernsehturm’ – otherwise know as the
TV Tower. Commissioned by the communist
administration in the 1960s, it remains
Germany’s tallest structure and is one of the
most visible icons of modern Berlin.
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