More wealth, less logos?

When we Tankies travel around the world doing research, we always keep our eyes open for any interesting, innovative ways marketeers have used to reach their audiences. These days, we sometimes come across really nice experiential executions on our travels. A few weeks ago, in Zurich, though, what struck me the most was the absence of advertising. Walking along the side of the lake, where a lot of people hang out, in outdoor cafes and restaurants or just lounging chatting to friends, there was barely a marketing message to be seen. Despite a captive audience on-shore, pedalos had no advertising on them and boats were bobbing on the water, hidden by neutral covers with no logos. Posters were very rare. I finally did come across a bike-rack, appropriately sponsored by a bike-shop. But very little else. Away from the lake, at the local S-bahn station, posters were also relatively sparse. What this did mean was that those that were there, and other efforts such as sample hand-outs, stood out a lot more. Perhaps it had something to do with the more upmarket nature of the neighbourhood. While much of the city's advertising does seem more discreet than that you see elsewhere - the trams, for example, only have a simple strip up top - clearly Zurich as a whole has plenty of outdoor advertising around. But perhaps those that have more, and pay more (as all Swiss clearly have to do, for many things) are on some level coughing up the cash for a life less cluttered?