500,000 YouTube Views in Two Weeks: Grabarz&Partner Infects the Internet With “Bontrust” Advertising

HAMBURG, Germany - The fact that successful viral advertising doesn’t always have to come from the USA or England has been impressively demonstrated recently by the Hamburg ad agency Grabarz&Partner for its client Bontrust. Two weeks ago the agency uploaded a 75-second spot for the investment consulting firm on the video sharing website YouTube. The lavishly produced film shows a world that is completely made of banknotes, and in which the Abraham Lincoln immortalized on dollar bills falls head over heels in love with a female banknote and fathers children with her. Ending: “Make your money multiply with us.”

The film’s spectacular success: the spot was viewed on YouTube alone over 500,000 times in only two weeks, commented on hundreds of times by users throughout the world and rated thousands of times - with the maximum number of points.

What’s more, the spot spread in no time in hundreds of private and specialist blogs in Europe, the USA and Asia. The Internet video measurement firm “Visible Measures” and the trade publication “Adweek” currently rate the Bontrust ad as one of the top ten viral campaigns worldwide. Media budget for the campaign: zero Euros (EUR 0,00).

Ralf Heuel, Head of Creation at Grabarz&Partner: “When the aim is to get people to look at advertising voluntarily and maybe pass it on to friends and acquaintances to friends and family, they have to be offered more than boring product info. Viewers have to be entertained and the brand message has to be conveyed in as spectacular a way as possible. And breaking a few taboos doesn’t do any harm either.”

Juries of international creative competitions were also impressed by the-not-quite-U-certificate film, short-listing it at the “Clio Awards” and the “New York Festivals”, for instance.

Credits: Agency Grabarz&Partner Hamburg Head of Creation: Ralf Heuel Creative Director: Ralf Heuel Copy: Paul Von Muehlendahl Art Director: Fedja Kehl, Petra Delitsch Agency Producer: Anne Hoffmann Client Consulting: Thomas Eickhoff, Jasmin Schwarzinger Advertising Management: Christoph Wesche Production House: Optix Digital Picture GmbH Producer: Steffi Beck, Tobias Ziegler, Andreas Rothenaicher Director Animation: Andreas Pohl, Marcus Geerts Music: Supreme Music, Hamburg Sound Design/Arrangement: Supreme Music, Hamburg Sound Engineer: Florian Lakenmacher, Felix Mueller, Maximilian Olowinsky Post Production: Optix Digital Picture GmbH Animation: Markus Geerts (Lead Artist), Michael Gottschalk, Florian Weyh, Marc Goecke Visual Effects: Marcel Lemme, Daniel Brylka, Marina Henzel

Grabarz&Partner is an independent, owner-run advertising agency, who for years belong to the most creative agencies in Germany. With around 185 employees, Grabarz & Partner looks after accounts from clients such as Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, IKEA, EDEKA, DEVK and Gruner + Jahr.

For further information please contact: Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur Maike Briege Tel.: +49(0)40-376-41-229 E-Mail: maike.briege@grabarzundpartner.de www.grabarzundpartner.de

Source: Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur GmbH

For further information please contact: Grabarz & Partner Werbeagentur, Maike Briege, Tel.: +49(0)40-376-41-229, E-Mail: maike.briege at grabarzundpartner.de .