SimplySwiss

SwissLife

SwissLife is one of Europe's premier providers of both pension and life insurance products. Within the Swiss market, the company is the uncontested market leader. The company’s recently redesigned and much simplified logo is featured top left. True to its previous incarnation, the new logo still leverages a visual of the Swiss flag helping to communicate and reinforce a sense of trust associated with the brand. (Primary Source: www.swisslife.ch)

Swissotel

Concentrated throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, Swissôtel maintains a global presence with hotels and resorts in Chicago, Lima, Quito, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Osaka, Bangkok and Sydney. While the brand name does evoke the brand’s origins, it is currently owned by the non-Swiss Raffles Holdings Group. Raffles acquired Swissotel from the Swissair Group back in 2001. This explains the similarity of the old Swissotel logo to the former Swissair logo posted further down the page. Today, Swissotel is positioned as a “distinctive group of deluxe hotels for today's discerning modern business and leisure travelers, combining the renowned Swiss touch with a fresh, modern and contemporary design.” (Primary Source: www.swissotel.com)

Swiss Re

Swiss Re was found in Zurich in 1863 and is today one of the world’s leading re-insurers doing business in over 30 countries. Reliability and trustworthiness are two of the most important qualities that a reinsurance company can provide customers. Directly leveraging the Swiss brand identity in its name, Swiss Re is well positioned to attract customer confidence.

The current Swiss Re logo was “designed to embody stability, strength, security and reliability; to awaken associations of clarity, efficiency, directness and openness.” It was introduced to market between 1996 and 2000. Notes from a 1994 Corporate Identity presentation describe the new logo: “The Swiss Re symbol is abstract. It does not represent any image, word or sound. Its four components form a simple, geometrical syntax which is easy to follow and remember.” (Primary Source: www.swissre.com)

Swiss International Airlines

Swiss International Airlines is the result of Swissair's takeover by Crossair and subsequent rebranding initiative. The company operates approximately 70 aircraft and transports over nine million passengers annually. Unfortunately, the airline has also inherited and has been unable to shake Swissair's financial difficulties. As one of the largest affronts to national pride, Swiss was acquired by the German carrier Lufthansa in 2005. The fact that a country as wealthy as Switzerland could lose one of its most revered icons was unthinkable. (Primary Source: www.swiss.com)

Union Bank of Switzerland

The Swiss Franc was created in 1850 marking the beginning of Switzerland’s long standing banking tradition. Over the years, there have been two major banks at play in the Swiss market: The Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) and the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). In December 1997, the two corporations merged retaining the Union Bank of Switzerland name and the Swiss Bank Corporation logo: A series of three overlapping keys symbolizing confidence, security and discretion. (Primary Source: www.ubs.com)

Swissair

Short for “Swiss Air Transport Company Limited”, Swissair was Switzerland’s national airline company from 1931 to 2002. During its tenure in this capacity, Swissair set many new standards of service within the industry. It developed into one of the country’s most respected ambassadors to the world, one which the Swiss were very proud.

However, the mystique of the Swissair brand hit hard times following the crash of a New York to Geneva flight off the coast of Nova Scotia during the summer of 1998. Just a few years later, the airline, also known as “Switzerland’s Flying Bank” (because of its solid finances) succumbed to bankruptcy. From one day to the next, passengers were stranded around the globe because the company could not afford the cost of jet fuel to operate its aircraft. Swissair was taken over by Crossair in 2002 and was rebranded Swiss International Airlines, or Swiss for short. (Primary Source: www.wikipedia.org)