Good — better — Bosch

Nonetheless, since Robert Bosch had a good sense for finding “the right people for the job,” he hired capable individuals who knew how Bosch advertising could be used most effectively. For many years, his nephew Hugo Borst was in charge of the company’s first major advertising campaigns. A large-scale advertisement in U.S. newspapers and magazines enabled Bosch to enter the American market.

At about that same time, companies were commissioning well-known commercial artists to design posters. Around 1909, the graphic artist Julius Klinger created the advertising figure of the “red devil.” He was inspired by the famous Belgian racing driver Camille Jenatzy, who won major car races with his fast driving and Bosch magneto ignition.

In 1912, the commercial artist Lucian Bernhard received his first commission from Bosch and was tasked with giving the company a new, uniform image. As the “originator of the Sachplakat,” or object poster Bernhard used a simple, clear visual and written language and reduced the poster to a depiction of the product with the name of the product or manufacturer. The first motif designed by Lucian Bernhard was the legendary spark plug with exploding spark, which dominated Bosch advertising for a long time.

Advertising became particularly crucial when launching a new product or opening up a new market. Bosch had an impressive track record in this area up to the outbreak of the first world war in 1914. After the war was over, the situation was very different. Some markets had to be reopened in the aftermath of the war and Bosch first had to attract attention again.

The posters by the Bernhard-Rosen graphic design studio in Berlin provided an impressive visual setting for the products. Now, however, a suitable advertising slogan had to be found that was the right fit for Bosch.

The previous “Bosch ignition is the best” no longer fit, as the company now offered many other automotive products alongside ignitions. Bosch’s advertising department, which had become increasingly professionalized after it was established in 1910, launched an appeal in the in-house newspaper “Bosch-Zünder” for associates to send in suggestions.

“A calm drive with Bosch” or “A car without Bosch lights, ignition, or horn is in bad shape!” — almost 50 suggestions were submitted. The one that ultimately won out was “Equipped with Bosch – a good journey.” The slogan remained dominant in German-speaking countries until the early 1950s. In some advertisements, it was supplemented by “Bosch gives you more — performance, safety, and value.”

The slogan “One thing is sure. Bosch” also began appearing more and more as a pithy way to highlight the notions of safety and reliability. From the late 1960s onward, however, it became apparent that, in addition to convenience and safety, other factors were gaining importance in the ever-increasing volume of road traffic. Air pollution and global crises resulting in a shortage of raw materials were important drivers for reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Bosch offered the right products for this, and the slogan “safe — clean — economical,” which had been formulated in house as a Bosch development goal in 1973, had to be translated into advertising. This was no easy matter, particularly in the automotive sector; Bosch products were “hidden” under the hood when installed as standard, where they couldn’t immediately catch the eye of the car buyer.