It almost seems like an anachronism: while retailing increasingly takes place on the Internet and e-tailers are taking away more and more market shares from brick and mortar retailers, the German retail market prefers to stick with traditional types of advertising. Flyers, catalogs and ads continue to be the most popular and promising ways of advertising. However, new media advertising continues to be on the rise and will also create new types of advertising in the future.

In Germany, TV show host Thomas Gottschalk and gummy candy maker Haribo are considered THE prime examples when it comes to successful celebrity endorsements. In recent years, large German retail companies like KiK, EDEKA and REWE also brought celebrity support on board. Well-known German celebrities like Verona Pooth, comedian Kaya Yanar and the German National Soccer Team all brought new faces to their respective companies.

Retail today has a great many possibilities for advertising and customer communication available – and the Internet constantly creates new channels. Nevertheless, the traditional types of advertising such as ads, flyers and catalogs continue to be among the frontrunners in the marketing mix of retailers. In our current iXtenso interview, Ute J. Holtmann, Head of Public Relations and Marlene Lohmann, Head of Marketing Research at the EHI Retail Institute, explain which communication channels retailers use and which media continue to gain in importance in terms of product advertising.