Germany’s Most Exciting Advertising

Enjoy this raucous round-up of the best of German advertising in 2014. 

OTTO - ‘Tinker’

We love this Christmas spot for department store OTTO for its amusing honesty. The film, created by Heimat and directed by The Perlorian Brothers, features a hapless father attempting to ‘craft’ his son the perfect Christmas before eventually the easy option wins.

Wilkinson Sword - ‘First Impression’ 

The rumour goes that we’ve reached ‘peak beard’. But if you want a definitive reason to lop off your facial hair just watch this Wilkinson Sword commercial from Labamba and Cobblestone’s Robert Nylund. 

Airbnb - ‘Wall and Chain’

It’s tricky business for a brand to produce something worthy around a truly moving issue, and Airbnb got it spot on with ‘Wall and Chain’. Created by VCCP Berlin and launched to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the campaign is centred around a really remarkable true story. 

Mercedes-Benz - ‘Dirty Driving’

Cobblestone’s Robert Nylund brilliantly instils passion into inanimate objects in this hilariously racy Mercedez-Benz spot by Lukas Lindemann Rosinski. Two things: watch until the end and check out these ‘Bondage’ and ‘Voyeur’ versions.

BIC - ‘The Universal Typeface’

In celebration of the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen, BIC began crowdsourcing digital handwriting contributions from all over the world in order to combine them into a single typeface. It was brought to life by DDB Düsseldorf and MediaMonks.

Vorwerk - ‘Love Sucks’

Here’s more adorable emotion from seemingly insentient objects. Saatchi & Saatchi Düsseldorf teamed up with Smuggler’s Jamie Rafn to tell this charming story of a tiny robot trying to impress the girl of his dreams (the new Vorwerk Kobold robotic vacuum). 

Deutsche Telekom - ‘José’s Wi-Fi Dogs’

No longer are we content on holiday to sit by the pool reading a book. It’s all about the Internet these days - but not so much so that we’re willing to remortgage our houses to fund abroad data roaming prices. Instead we look for free Wi-Fi spots, as this Deutsche Telekom mockumentary from DDB Tribal Berlin so cleverly shows.

Felix Schoeller - ‘The Power of Paper’

Wanda Germany’s Ehsan B and Serviceplan champions the greatness of an often overlooked item in this striking film for Felix Schoeller.

UNESCO - ‘The Entlebuch Message’

BBDO Proximity Düsseldorf sent a tourism ad into flippin’ space for UNESCO. Need we say more? 

BMW Motorrad - ’Make Life a Ride’

BMW Motorrad’s marketing focus shifted from product to person with this global campaign from VCCP Berlin. It launched with a new brand film by ACNE Productions’ Anders Jedenfors.