Davidoff Head Ernst Schneider: 1921-2009
Schneider was part of the tobacco business for 50 years. In 1949 he began working for Max Oettinger Co., a company owned by his father-in-law. Oettinger had been founded in 1875 and was an early importer of cigars from Cuba, Brazil and Jamaica.
In 1970, Oettinger acquired Davidoff, at the time a Geneva cigar shop run by Zino Davidoff with a line of Davidoff cigars made in Cuba. Production of the cigars was moved to the Dominican Republic after 1990.
Schneider and Oettinger paid about $1 million for the shop, a vast sum at the time. "Many people said that I was crazy to pay such a price for one shop only, but I had an idea in my head. I said that we would internationalize the Davidoff business because the base was created, and I had developed a special concept," Schneider said to Cigar Aficionado. "I always used three important points as a means to success. The first point is that quality and price have to be in order. The second point is the concept has to be in order, and the third point is that you have to make a special distribution system. With all of these together, you will have a successful luxury brand."
One of Schneider's toughest tasks was protecting the Davidoff name, which was used on all types of products by other companies. Fighting for the name led to the creation of various other Davidoff products. "In Spain there were wine and ice-cream bars under the name Davidoff. In Italy, there were T-shirts. In Holland, someone sold a Davidoff vodka. Hong Kong, they had shoes. And so on. … I decided now we have to stop. Then I cleaned up the whole world market, which cost me a fortune. We had 32 lawsuits to clean the market. The cost was about 3.5 million Swiss francs. So, then I started selling products under the name Davidoff in the most important categories; otherwise, you lose your protection after five years' time if you don't sell a product. So, you see I was forced to do it. But today the name Davidoff has notoriety all over the world."
Schneider stepped down as chairman of Oettinger Imex AG in 2006, and Riccardo Gullotti, a member of the Oettinger board, succeeded him. Day-to-day operations of the group are handled by chief executive officer Reto Cina.
In 2001, The Times of London ran a story on Schneider, saying that at the age of 80 it delighted him to befuddle the critics of tobacco products by living a long and vibrant life while enjoying many cigars. "He revels in the fact that he smokes at least five cigars a day, starting at 7.30am, and still happily plays tennis, swims and walks in the Swiss Alps."
