Image erosion: “Swissness” suffers loss in international reputation

The strength of the “Swiss Made” brand is waning. This is the key message from a survey conducted by the international management consultancy Globeone on the strengths and weaknesses of Swiss brands. The survey sample constituted 1,500 consumers in Germany, the US and China, ultimately concluding that the erosion of Switzerland’s image as a country of origin has not only affected leading brands but also led to the Swiss financial center relinquishing its leading position in consumer perception in the US. Moreover, confidence in the innovative strengths of Switzerland has continuously deteriorated over the past two years.

At the end of 2017, Globeone conducted the new edition of it’s biennial brand survey. The results indicate that while the overall brand image is still relatively strong, there are some clear weaknesses developing. Compared with 2015, the “Swissness label” has dropped eight percentage points to 66%.

Individual image dimensions, such as quality (-11%), prestige (-9%) and reliability ( -8%) have in particular witnessed a drastic drop in perception. Carina Hauswald, Managing Partner at Globeone in Zurich, sees the core of “Swiss Made” slowly deteriorating: “The image erosion of Switzerland as the country of origin hits the ‘Swiss Made’ brand right in the heart, because it is above all image dimensions that are noticeably affected, which constitute the core promise of ’Swiss Made’. It is only a matter of time before this image loss starts to affect the price premium of the Swissness label, which could be very considerable,” she warns commenting these results.

In this context, it is no surprise that Switzerland is not perceived as a particularly innovative country of origin. Consumers attest Swiss brands only moderate innovative strengths. Still, 44% of surveyed consumers expect ground-breaking innovations from Switzerland in the coming years. But this is not reflected in Switzerland’s image as a country of origin. In the corresponding dimension, the country has dropped five percentage points down to 11% since 2015 and now ranks behind China (22%). Carina Hauswald attributes this development primarily to the lack of innovation communication among Swiss companies: “Swiss manufacturers, especially the large industrial groups, are innovative and they also invest a lot in research and development – no question. But they do not succeed in anchoring this in the consciousness of consumers through appropriate positioning and communication.”

One of SUISHARE’s prime concerns is that constant exposure in the International press to Swiss company misbehaviour adds to the erosion of Switzerland’s image as a beacon of trust and honesty. This can only be countered by better independent oversight and enhanced corporate governance.

It only takes one misbehaving Swiss company to cause many more to be painted with the same brush, with the consequential image reduction for all.