Ricola and Jung von Matt Bring Back 'Who Invented It?' for a Generation That Forgot
Updated: 6 days ago
TL;DR: Ricola and Jung von Matt Limmat are reviving the iconic 'Wer hat's erfunden?' ('Who invented it?') slogan after a 12-year break, this time playing on the fact that younger audiences no longer recognise it — with a 200-million-contact push running to December.
The Comeback
Ricola, with lead agency Jung von Matt Limmat, is bringing back 'Wer hat's erfunden?' — the slogan that defined its advertising from 1998, when it first featured actor Erich Vock, until 2014. The twist is self-ironic: a young supermarket cashier asks the famous question and the customer has no idea of the answer, a knowing nod to a generational gap.
A marmot mascot named 'Ric' delivers the punchline with the dry Swiss humour the brand is known for. Creative director Dominique Magnusson put it plainly: many generations grew up with the question, 'but some don't know it today. We're changing that with dry Swiss humour and plenty of awkward silence.'
A Deliberately Big, Modern Media Push
This is nostalgia deployed at scale, not for its own sake. The campaign targets around 200 million contacts through December across streaming and connected TV — Prime Video, RTL+, Joyn, Zattoo, Rakuten TV and Seven.One Media — plus YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
It extends into retail through activations with dm drugstores and outdoor retailer Bergfreunde under the line 'Ricola & raus', and is framed as a long-term communication platform running into 2027 rather than a one-off spot.
Marketing Minute's Read: Reviving an Asset Beats Building One
A distinctive, decades-old slogan is a rare and valuable brand asset. The clever move isn't to retire it because a new generation doesn't recognise it — it's to re-contextualise it so the gap itself becomes the joke. By making 'not knowing it' the premise, Ricola converts an ageing reference from a liability into earned attention.
For any brand sitting on a dormant distinctive asset — a slogan, a jingle, a mascot — the lesson is that memory structures are expensive to build and surprisingly cheap to reawaken. Ricola just reawakened one, at national scale, for the price of a single platform idea.
Quick FAQ
What is 'Wer hat's erfunden?'
It is Ricola's famous German-language slogan ('Who invented it?'), which ran from 1998 to 2014 and is now being revived by lead agency Jung von Matt Limmat with a self-ironic twist.
What is the new creative idea?
A young supermarket cashier asks the classic question and the customer doesn't know the answer, playing on a generational gap, with a marmot mascot named 'Ric' delivering a dry, Swiss-humour punchline.
How big is the campaign?
It aims for around 200 million contacts through December across streaming and CTV platforms and social, plus retail activations with dm and Bergfreunde, and is built as a platform running into 2027.
Ricola is doing the clever thing: instead of burying a slogan the youth don't recognise, it makes not recognising it the joke. A distinctive asset built over decades is far too valuable to retire. Memory structures are expensive to build and cheap to reawaken — and Ricola just reawakened one at scale. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Distinctive brand assets are expensive to build and cheap to reawaken — re-contextualise the ones you have before chasing a brand-new idea.
Do you have a dormant slogan, jingle or mascot you've stopped using? Tell us what you'd bring back if you dared.
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: HORIZONT.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
