Maggi was a sponsor on the earlier 1909 expedition. In 1912 the company replicated its involvement.
Nestlé Historical Archives

From April 1912, de Quervain reported on key stages of the heroic journey. After his return to Switzerland he also published, extensively and usually prominently on the front page, a series of immensely readable reports, not without a bit of false modesty: ‘We didn’t […] think it would become a feature article.’ With its commitment, the NZZ on the one hand adeptly catered to the polar fever of the time, but also created an enormous breadth of response for it, as historian Lea Pfäffli states in her instructive study ‘Das Wissen, das aus der Kälte kam’ (The knowledge that came in from the cold).

SPONSORSHIP AND SLIDE SHOWS

With appeals for funds in the paper, de Quervain was able to attract additional backers well before his departure date. For example, his estate includes a letter dating from January 1912, according to which the firm Maggi had found out about the expedition’s plans from the NZZ and wanted to provide the explorers with bouillon cubes. It required ‘only a sign from you, and we will provide you with the necessary supplies’ – a sign which de Quervain happily gave. The same goes for condensed milk from the Berner Alpenmilchgesellschaft, chocolate from Lindt, Lenzburg jams and tinned meat, watches from Jura and skis from sporting goods shop Dethleffsen. de Quervain stole a march on today’s marketing practices: he was sponsored, and in return he made favourable mention of his sponsors in his reports and in his subsequent book – product placement under the aurora borealis.

But without government funding, it wasn’t enough to cover the expedition costs. Another key source of revenue at the time was the talks he gave in Switzerland and abroad after his trips, at which slides were shown. With innumerable presentations on Greenland, Alfred de Quervain alone earned more than 5,000 francs. But even with the contributions from the NZZ, other private individuals and scientific societies, and despite ‘great personal sacrifices by the participants’, in the end there was still a shortfall of around 3,500 francs. Due to the ‘expansion of the programme’, extra costs totalling almost a quarter of the original sum had been incurred, as de Quervain complained to the Federal Council at the end of 1913. This time the Council was generous, and had the required amount transferred by the National Bank. And the NZZ, which had made the expedition possible in the first place with its injection of cash? For the time being, it refrained from any further major commitments – ‘first, because the newspaper has of late published travelogues on a large scale […], and then because the financial situation is not encouraging’.

Marc Tribelhorn

How the NZZ advanced the cause of polar research