For many years, Wilo’s marketing consisted of a traditional, entirely technical brochure and nothing more. No print or radio adverts. Wilhelm Opländer was of the opinion that quality is the best form of advertisement. In the 1950s, the director of the company himself held lectures in front of installers and heating engineers. Dr Jochen Opländer also took over many of these lectures later on, travelling from city to city, driving more than 100,000 kilometres per year to visit customers and inform them about the latest technical developments at Wilo. Those who knew the company knew what it stood for; but getting to know Wilo was not that easy.
Trade fairs were one opportunity to present the company to a larger audience. Wilo took part in the Hannover Messe in the 1950s and in 1960, the company was represented at the first international trade fair for HVAC and water (Internationale Sanitär- und Heizungsmesse, ISH) in Frankfurt. In the context of the Perfecta alliance of licensees, a form of association advertising had been developed for the trade fairs in which Wilo also participated. There was no advertising strategy that extended beyond this. However, long-term advertising campaigns were generally uncommon in the industry at that time.
This changed at the beginning of the 1970s. At this point, Wilhelm and Dr. Jochen Opländer had already been discussing that it was becoming necessary to modernise the advertisements for Wilo.
They hired Siegfried Bruckhoff, a skilled external advisor. Together with the experienced advertiser, the management revised the company’s public image bit by bit. First of all, the Wilo lettering was modernised, as the old logo looked “like a roast chicken” to Bruckhoff’s eyes. This was followed by standardised and professional product presentations and catalogues. The first steps towards the Wilo corporate design had been taken.
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