The Otto Bock Brand Gains Popularity

In its August 22, 2011 edition, WirtschaftsWoche (WiWo), a German business news magazine, published a ranking it commissioned on the brand value of German "Hidden Champions" - with Otto Bock in 5th place, an outstanding achievement.

"Otto Bock CEO and shareholder Hans Georg Näder successfully executed a spectacular metamorphosis from an unsophisticated to a glamour brand," WiWo writes. The brand relevance of the commitment to Paralympic sports and the Science Center Medical Technology in Berlin, which focuses on providing information and only presents the Otto Bock brand at the end of the exhibition, received particular emphasis.

Biesalski & Company, a Munich consulting firm, prepared the ranking.

The values for brand and company performance describing success in the market environment were summed. Companies with annual sales below EUR 1 billion that hold a leading position in the global market, where the owner is the manager or holds a majority interest, were included in the ranking. Herrenknecht, a manufacturer of tunnel boring machines from Schwanau, holds 1st place.

Following an English excerpt from the original press release:

Strength through Technology

Otto Bock CEO and shareholder Hans Georg Näder successfully executed the spectacular metamorphosis from an unsophisticated to a glamour brand. The family company from Duderstadt, South Lower Saxony took fifth place in the WirtschaftsWoche brand ranking. Otto Bock makes prostheses for disabled people and supplies nearly half of all high-end prostheses around the world. Perhaps not a very inspiring product - but Näder, the owner, has drastically altered the image of his company and therefore the brand over the last 20 years.

Instead of ailing people in hospital wards, Näder presents buff athletes at the Paralympics in Beijing in his brochures and on the website. And rather than glossy pink wooden legs, the owner of the midsize company puts prosthetic limbs made of polished metal and composites with sophisticated technology in the foreground.

One of the brand ambassadors of the company with 4400 employees is Roland Zahn, who recently completed a 1000-kilometre hiking tour. The 74-year-old just crossed Germany from Leipzig to Tübingen. He was accompanied by schoolchildren, politicians and the media along the way. Zahn wore shorts for the tour. His prosthetic leg which is controlled by a microchip, a new Otto Bock development, was always visible. The message for his fellow hikers, most of whom are not disabled: "Move!"

Typical for Näder's brand policy: the enthusiastic deep sea sailor erected the so-called Science Center Medical Technology in the midst of Berlin to inform people on the topic of mobility for the disabled. The futuristic cube at Potsdamer Platz has several storeys. Visitors learn a lot about technology and the performance of electronically supported replacement limbs. Only at the end of the exhibition does the Otto Bock brand appear.
Näder knows that his customers often suffer under their fate. Positioning his brand in the mobility and sports segment lifts the taboo on his products. "Yes, our brand stands for a particular product range," says Näder, "but above all it stands for technology, activity and strength." 

Näder, whose grandfather founded the company in 1919 after the end of the war, turned artificial limbs into design objects. He has won over 100 prizes in competitions to date. The work of Porsche, Grohe and Apple designers was among the competing entries.

Even though the market is regulated by health insurers, the Otto Bock brand image is a sales driver. "The brand is structured like Volkswagen," Näder says. "You have entry-level models like the Polo but also the Audi 8 or the Bentley." A large proportion of sales growth is accounted for by the fact that disabled persons are increasingly willing to pay more out of pocket for a prosthesis that performs better.


Here you will find the original press release for download: