The dealer campaign in several neighboring communities is intended to attract customers. The Wolfratshauser advertising group boss has decided against participating
Wolfratshausen – “Downtown Friday”: This is the concept with which the “City Center Action Group” wants to help stationary retail in four districts (we reported). According to project organizer André Liebe, the action group in question is a loose association of trade associations in the Oberland - supported by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, which is providing almost 60,000 euros from the “New shops and new ideas for Bavaria's city centers” funding program. According to Liebe, the organizers raise the same amount. Interest groups from Bad Tölz and Lenggries as well as Procit Geretsried led by chairman Ludwig Schmid are also on board - the advertising group for the shopping city of Wolfratshausen is not. He didn't respond to emails, Liebe explained when presenting the concept. This statement is not entirely correct, counters advertising group chairman Hans-Joachim Kunstmann in an interview with our newspaper.
“I don’t see any benefit”: Old town is not taking part in the downtown campaign in the Oberland
From May to October, the action group holds “Inner City Friday” on the first Friday of every month. Each one has a different motto, the spectrum ranges from the European Football Championship to the Oktoberfest. Bad Tölz, Geretsried, Lenggries, Murnau, Penzberg, Weilheim and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are taking part in the project. “The 'City Center Friday' is unique in Bavaria,” says Liebe.
(Our Wolfratshausen-Geretsried newsletter regularly informs you about all important stories from your region. Sign up here.)
Kunstmann notes that the Wolfratshausen advertising group was not contacted by email by the project organizer. Ernst Gröbmair, chairman of the Lebendige Altstadt Wolfratshausen (LAW) association, also said that he did not find any messages of love in the LAW's electronic mailbox. That the project manager sent the emails to the Wolfratshausen town hall, specifically to city manager Dr. Kunstmann and Gröbmair don't believe what Stefan Werner sent. “Such things are forwarded very reliably and promptly,” says the advertising group chairman. When asked, project organizer Liebe explains that it was not he who sent the emails, but Andreas Roß, board member of the Oberland Economic Forum. “That’s right,” says Roß. “From our side, all city marketing associations have been informed and written to several times.”
Motto Fridays without Wolfratshausen: “I don’t want to badmouth it,” says the head of the advertising circle
Be that as it may: Kunstmann had already learned about “Inner City Friday” some time ago at a meeting of the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen IHK committee. In principle, he supports all actions that support stationary retail. But the advertising group deliberately does not take part in the motto Fridays in question. “I definitely don't want to badmouth it,” emphasizes Kunstmann, but the “Red Friday” that the advertising group initiated in the rafting town in 2020 left a bad aftertaste.
You can read the latest news from the Wolfratshausen/Geretsried region here
The aim was to symbolically defy the “Black Friday” of online giants like Amazon. But despite huge discounts, the rush of customers was limited. He didn't expect record sales either, says Kunstmann. For him, it was more about raising awareness among consumers on “Red Friday” that retail dies “if every euro is spent on the Internet”. The fact that some members of the advertising group criticized the campaign afterwards is incomprehensible to Kunstmann to this day.
Wolfratshausen dealers do not take part: advertising campaign without an advertising group
“We have other marketing instruments,” explains the advertising group chairman and entrepreneur with a view to “Inner City Friday”. In general, you have to “make a choice” as to which initiatives you want to take part in – and which ones you don’t. Concerted actions (“everyone doing the same thing at the same time”) are a double-edged sword. In Kunstmann's eyes, it is more productive if the individual municipalities or trade associations score points individually - and not, even in the worst case scenario, steal potential customers from each other on day X. “Again: The campaign is good,” says Kunstmann, “but after careful consideration we decided against participating in the 'Downtown Friday'.” He could not see any “benefit” for the advertising group.