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Military brand strategy

A transparent brand policy guarantees a legally equal and legally secure licensing practice for military brands and strengthens the position of the Confederation as a licence provider for military brands at home and abroad.

Aerobatic team of the Patrouille Suisse Northrop F-5E Tiger II. Airshow Axalp 2022.
© VBS/DDPS

The military brand strategy in terms of a commercialisation strategy is based on three pillars:

  • the long-term, exclusive cooperation agreement with Victorinox AG on the «Swiss Army» brand; 
  • the exclusive licence agreement with the company swiss brands AG on the brands «Swiss Military» and «Swiss Air Force» with the right to grant sub-licences;
  • and licence agreements with licensees on an individual brand for a single category of products (such as watches).

In April 2022, armasuisse approved the «Brand Strategy and Standards» (BSS) for the military brand «Swiss Military» developed on its behalf by swiss brands AG. The BSS define, in a binding manner, the brand usage regulations, the design requirements for product development, manufacture and design and the commercial communication.

The usage regulations cover topics such as logo integrity, specifications of Swissness legislation, colours and fonts in the presentation of the brand and further text. The specifications for product design concern task areas such as brand DNA and customer groups as well as functionality of the products and sustainability in their production. Finally, the commercial communication also includes specifications for illustration of the «Swiss Military Heritage», understood as a reference to the Swiss military, to «Swissness» and to the Swiss Confederation and introduces the authorisation seal «official licensee of the Swiss Confederation» as an identification for official licensees.

The military brand strategy is a «work in progress»; it is being further developed in cooperation with the partners of armasuisse, in particular concerning the differentiation of the brand identity and customer groups of the various military brands «Swiss Army», «Swiss Military» and «Swiss Air Force».