Dimitri Burkhard
Given the hassle that flying has become, it is hard to believe that it was once considered a great privilege.
Up until 2002, Swissair was the official airline of Switzerland. And through the decades, Swissair advertisements have become proverbial pillars of Swiss design. Swissair poster design is sleek and simple, and the message is clear even to five-year-olds.
The legacy of Swissair can still be felt today. The former national airline of Switzerland had built a very strong brand for more than 70 years, meanwhile shaping an entire industry. The Swissair brand name and the tail wings decorated with Swiss flags had become synonymous for customer service excellence. And as my top 10 vintage Swissair posters reveal, their marketing department must have been designer heaven...
Here is a collection of vintage Swissair posters for inbound tourism:
(All Swissair posters courtesy SR692)
Hi Dimitri,
great post about posters I love “Chic”! Who do the Swiss have to thank for people coming on ski holidays? The Brits!
“It all began in 1864, when the owner of a small guest house in St. Moritz placed a now famous bet with a group of British tourists who had spent the summer in the local health spa taking the waters. The bet was that they’d see more sunny days and generally have a better holiday in the Swiss Alps if they came back and stayed in the winter than they would back home in foggy, rainy London. Furthermore, if they didn’t agree with him by the end of their stay, he wouldn’t charge them for it. Needless to say – and as million of Brits have found since – he won his bet. The small guest house is now part of the vast, grand Kulm hotel, one of five “beyond five star” hotels in St. Moritz, and you could buy a reasonably sized house back home for the cost of spending a winter in a suite there today!
Thanks for the insight, Fergus!
This guy’s gamble surely paid off for Switzerland’s tourism industry… Or is it still considered a gamble when the outcome was certain to begin with? ;-)
I love Charlie’s gondolas – a smart way of transportation to get more tourists on top of Swiss mountains!