Interview with Dr. Alexander Haldemann: “Employees are the most important brand ambassadors”

Hello Alpiq: No. 01/2009

“Employees are the most important brand ambassadors”

Interview with Dr. Alexander Haldemann

Why was an all-new name chosen, and not a combination of Atel and EOS?
Brand names must satisfy many requirements. Developing a name is a highly complex process: first of all, a brand name has to be short and memorable, it must work well in numerous languages, and it must not infringe the rights of other brands. All the different possible combinations of the old company names were analysed; however, none of them fully met the requirements.

What impact can an all-new name have?
When two companies merge, a joint new name creates the opportunity for a joint new beginning. The whole thus becomes more than the sum of its parts. “Alpiq” unambiguously expresses the corporate strategy: on the one hand we have the reference to the Alps, the home of the company, to Swiss values such as reliability, precision and partnership. On the other hand, the second part of the name evokes the term “peak” and hence the top of a mountain, and thus refers not only to a peak performance in general but specifically to top products in the energy field. Accordingly, Alpiq stands for peak performance and the determination to be the first choice in Europe and Switzerland.

What is needed to ensure that the brand is swiftly established in the markets?
A new brand cannot be successful overnight, and established brands cannot be replaced “at the push of button”. We must remember that the Atel and EOS brands combine some 200 years of Swiss energy history. First of all, it is important to launch the new brand – Alpiq – on the foundation of the old brands. The technical term for this specific process is “brand transfer”. The advertising campaign expresses this fact by consistently depicting Alpiq as the potent combination of Atel and EOS.
Secondly, the new company must as quickly as possible present itself as an entity. From the moment it is launched the new brand must be promoted with maximum consistency.

And how can the employees contribute to this process?
The employees are the most important brand ambassadors. They influence the public image of the company more than any advertising campaign. It is natural that people may feel uncomfortable when asked to say goodbye to the well-proven and familiar, and to embrace something new. That takes time. But embracing the new will be well worth the effort. A very powerful brand has been created, and I am convinced that within but a few years Alpiq will have become one of the leading Swiss and European brands – something the people who work for Alpiq have every reason to be proud of.

To download the interview as a PDF, click on the link below.