200 «mobile years» - brand show in five acts

Many things can survive for two hundred years. A brand that remains light, appealing and still big is rarer. This is exactly what Die Mobiliar showed this afternoon in Bern: not «200 years» as a chronicle, but «200 mobile years» as a flawless brand production - four acts in the Stadttheater and a fifth, which the guests continued to write themselves later in the Casino Bern.

In 1826, when Mobiliar was founded, Switzerland was a different world. Not only technically, but also mentally: torn apart, with a cantonal mindset, still far removed from the self-image that would later be called the «Swiss Confederation». It was precisely at this time that the cooperative idea of bearing risks together was born - not as a cliché, but as a business model with attitude. Two hundred years later, Mobiliar has long since become a large, powerful company based in Berne and operating in the Swiss Confederation. And yet on this afternoon, it achieved something that has become rare among large organizations: its communication is not polished, but approachable. Sympathetic. And above all: credible.

This credibility is not a whim of the day. It is the result of consistency. From brand management that doesn't change color with every trend or change of leadership. From a language that doesn't have to constantly prove how important you are. And of an honesty that holds up even when the world becomes more confusing. That was the real message of this anniversary: less «200 years», more «200 years of brand».

Since 1826 - and suddenly the brand is on stage

The first act of this afternoon took place at the Stadttheater Bern. Not as a classic celebration with a review and chronicle, but as a masterful production. CEO Michèle Rodoni set the tone in her welcoming address. In three languages, but with a crystal-clear message: «Exactly 200 years ago, in February 1826, Mobiliar was founded. To bear risks together. That is our mission.» And it anchored the mission in a sentence that sounds like everyday life: «Cohesion is not just a word for us. As a cooperative, these are values that we live by every day. Not because they sound good, but because they are the foundation of our society and make us stronger.»

Rodoni linked this idea to the anniversary year, which is intended to create encounters - with «Better together» as the motto, with «Red Round Tables» as a symbol, with events across the country. And it led back to the stage: anyone who survives 200 years must constantly renew themselves. That's exactly what the show is supposed to tell. «And now: have fun.»

Act 1: The idea of bearing risk in solidarity - «Better together»

In the dramaturgy of the play «Together for tomorrow. Since 1826.», everything begins where the brand has its origins: with the idea that risks can be taken together. In the production, this becomes a founding scene, a market situation, a new beginning. In the language of Mobiliar, it is the first, silent proof of its own identity: not product first, not premium first, but purpose. Rodoni's words give this a contemporary framework. «Better together» is not just an anniversary motto, but an attempt to establish the basic cooperative idea as a contemporary attitude.

And this is exactly where the anniversary communication comes in, which should extend beyond the ceremony. Yassin Sebai, who is responsible for the campaign work for the anniversary at Mobiliar, says: «Round. That's the symbol we were looking for for »together«.» The round table has no corners, there is room for different interests, and «everyone around it has the same opportunity and equal rights to speak». This idea is not just a graphic motif, but a program: creating encounters, triggering dialogue, not just asserting the "we", but practicing it.

Act 2: From fire insurance company to all-lines insurer - Nadine Imboden turns 200 years of the brand into a show

The second act jumps into the development movement that makes Mobiliar a nationwide insurance company - and a brand that everyone knows. This is precisely where the production resorts to big images: Change, expansion, new risks, new answers. And this is where Nadine Imboden's creative signature is particularly evident.

In the interview, she says what fascinated her about Mobiliar as a material: «What really impressed me was the history. A company that has been inspiring people for 200 years and has developed this idea of solidarity and built on it - I think that's great.» For her, this history is not just a retrospective, but material that can be shaped. And this shaping is the difference between an anniversary and brand staging.

Project manager Michel Gicot emphasizes that the show did not come about «just like that». «The idea was to offer a single event - today for society and tomorrow it will be offered to our employees,» he says. «It's unique because it offers a journey through the history of Mobiliar and is also a show that conveys the values of Mobiliar, this cooperative idea.» And he immediately categorizes what is often forgotten in Bern when something goes smoothly: «Of course, it's the work of an entire team. I am not alone.»

m&k highlight: The stick figure becomes human

For m&k, there was a moment that afternoon that was a lesson in brand management. The famous damage sketch men were not simply projected or used as animated transitions, but brought to life as part of the production. The show had a main actor who led through the acts like a stick figure turned human - slightly clumsy, sometimes as if he had accidentally ended up in the wrong picture, and therefore perfect as a figure of identification.

This performer interacted with props that looked like three-dimensional sketches: Trampoline as safety net, bathtub as water damage slapstick, lantern as swinging gymnastic apparatus, snowball as avalanche image, springboards as athletic thrills. And again and again this «Liebe Mobiliar» logic: a mishap happens - and it doesn't turn into a drama, but into a punchline. The iconic value of the campaign was not explained. It was played.

Imboden sums up this effect in an interview: «You only have to say the first sentence - »Dear Mobiliar« - and everyone in Switzerland knows it.» It was therefore clear to her team: «It has to be in there.» At the same time, they had to think ahead: "A drawing on stage is not alive per se. We had to think about it: How do they come to life? Who gives them a face?"

For Gicot, integrating the sketches was not an optional extra, but a duty. «Damage sketches have been present in all of our communication for 30 years,» he says. «That's why it was actually a »must' for the team and for us that we integrate the damage sketches into the show - in one form or another." The fact that this was not a nostalgia element, but a dramaturgical driver, is precisely the quality of this production.

Sebai also describes how the sketches were «embodied» in each of the acts - from fire to cyber. «In each act and each historical section, we looked for what embodies it,» he says. «For example, there were the clones [in the future section], which actually looked like the sketches. Or the trampoline that catches someone.» And in the water element, the core was: «We stick together in solidarity and lift each other up.»

Act 3: Insurers in times of climate change

In the third act, the present is here. Climate, natural hazards, cyber risks - a world in which risks are not only becoming more frequent, but also more difficult to categorize. On stage, Renato Kaiser gives voice to this mood of the times. He appears as an «expert for the first general uncertainty» and suddenly makes the topic of risk approachable. He plays his way through climate risks, politics, artificial intelligence and this vague notion that everything has become faster and more uncertain at the same time. His strength is that he doesn't lecture the audience, but takes them along with him - with precise timing, moments of dialect and sentences that stick.

Kaiser's performance was more than just a comedy interlude. He brought the show back to the present and gave it the tone that suits Mobiliar: serious in its subject matter, light in its approach. In a production that touched on everything from fire to floods to cyber risks, he was the one who not only described the uncertainty, but also brought it to the stage as an emotion.

Act 4: Insurer of the future - Sina as the final point

The fourth act plays with the future. It deliberately overacts, focuses on identity, on the question of what security means in the future and how much the world can still get out of sync - and at the same time the cooperative idea remains visible as the core.

At the end came a moment that transformed the evening from artistry to emotion: Sina performed and sang a song composed especially for the anniversary by Roman Riklin. It was also Riklin who provided the script for the entire anniversary show. After the tempo, images, punchlines and choreography, Sina's strong-voiced performance was like a warm final chord - a song that emotionally anchors «Together for Tomorrow».

Act 5: Casino Bern continues to write

After the final applause and the last confetti, the evening was far from over. The fifth act began where Bern can be festive: in the casino. Suddenly, the theater audience became a crowd of guests, the rows of seats became a lively hall, the stage lights became a warm hall sound - and the production became an event that continues to write itself.

This is where what brand staging always achieves in the best case scenario happens: it allows people not only to watch, but also to participate. People clink glasses, laugh, nod, discuss. And yes: also enjoyed. In culinary terms, the evening was conducted as one might expect in Bern when an institution like Die Mobiliar invites guests: not as a side program, but as part of the hospitality.

And somewhere between the courses and conversations, the anniversary idea of the «round table» comes full circle: encounter not as a campaign slogan, but as an actual practice. Sebai calls the round table a symbol without corners, with space for different interests. At Casino Bern, this idea was put into practice in a very analogous way: not as a logo, but as an evening that brings people together, gets them talking and makes the «we» tangible for a few hours.

Stefan Mäder: Innovation without losing the cooperative core

Mobiliar Chairman of the Board of Directors Stefan Mäder put the anniversary in historical perspective and emphasized that the founders in 1826 did not think in cantonal terms, but in Swiss terms - a cooperative as a bridge across interests. Mäder spoke about innovation as a necessity for a 200-year-old company, but always in this double track: technologically forward, anchored in the cooperative. «A 200-year-old company can't help but be innovative,» he said, drawing a line from the IBM mainframe computer in 1966 to today's phase of upheaval with the cloud and AI - not as a technology show, but as a means of enabling proximity: more time for personal advice, more space for the human touch.

He also recalled natural hazard insurance as proof of solidarity in action: voluntary payouts in the event of natural disasters, later the natural hazard pool as «double solidarity». And he emphasized profit sharing as an identity-forming promise that applies not only in good times. In this way, brand communication becomes a form of consistency that is constantly renewed without losing itself.

Viktor Rossi: A tribute with a jass beat and cooperative spirit

Federal Chancellor Viktor Rossi delivered a tribute that fits this brand perfectly: He first played with the tricky Bern logic that invitations to private anniversaries can quickly look like «cronyism» politically - and resolved it with a Jass anecdote. He had been playing Jass for over 20 years with a Mobiliar employee who had asked him to reserve February 6. Rossi was thinking of a Jass evening, but then received the invitation to the anniversary. He turned this story into the image of the evening: you hope for good cards, «but you only show your character when you have a bad hand».

Rossi used three keywords that link Mobiliar and the Confederation: Neighborhood, cooperative idea, responsibility. And he found a closing image that summarized the evening in one sentence: «So this evening is a family celebration.» People don't always agree, but when it comes down to it, they stick together. Not suppressing risks, but bearing them together - with foresight, common sense and a sense of proportion.

Video: Five acts in eight minutes

m&k was there. The eight-minute video by Beat Hürlimann summarizes these five acts like a story: Show moments, images from Bern, atmospheres between the Stadttheater and the casino - and three voices, representing all those who made this afternoon possible. It is also a small promise to the future that points beyond the anniversary: that Die Mobiliar, like the Aare, will continue to flow for another 200 years. We hope so, we wish so - and we are pretty sure that the brand has the necessary constancy to do so.

Thank you, Mobiliar, for the material for this report.