HITTING THE NAZIS IN THEIR MERCH: RESPONSIBILITY GRAND PRIX

Of all the ideas that have ever surfaced in an advertising agency, one of the most unexpected must be: “We’re going to fight the neo-Nazis – but using intellectual property rights.”

It’s a bit like the Chicago cops deciding to bust Capone by charging him with tax evasion. Even if it sounds counter-intuitive, it’s effective.

Basically, it works like this: Nazis favour T-shirts, baseball caps and other merch printed with certain codes – arrangements of letters or numbers – that are automatically recognized by their kind. The merch is sold on specific sites, making money for the Nazi movement.

The agency’s idea? To buy the trademark rights to the codes and symbols and then force the sellers to remove and destroy them, depriving the Far Right of funds. The new owners can even demand compensation for each item sold, putting the money in their own coffers and allowing them to buy more codes. A virtuous circle.

Cracking the codes

The ongoing project is part of Jung von Matt’s work with anti-Nazi organization Laut gegen Nazis (“Loud Against Nazis”). It was also one of the campaigns that enabled Jung von Matt to become Independent Agency of the Year at the Epica Awards. More on that in a moment, but Managing Creative Director Jan Harbeck did point out something that seems to fit this campaign perfectly.

“We have the Trojan horse as a logo. This is our symbol; so it’s a story of how brilliant ideas can outsmart barriers in markets, channels, minds and hearts. This is what we try to achieve. Of course it doesn’t work every time. But we make it happen often: creating work that doesn’t just reach people but moves them and surprises them. We call it the power of the unexpected. Only then you will remain memorable in the best way possible.”

So where did this particular surprising idea begin? Executive Creative Director Simon Knittel says: “It actually started with an article mentioning that the phrase ‘Black Friday’ is trademarked, so weren’t able to use it for one of our clients without paying a fee. A Chinese company actually owns it and is making money out of it. There are a couple of court cases, which is how it found its way into the media.”

Most people would have let it go, but being creatives, Simon and his colleagues thought, “Maybe we can use that?”

External intelligence

Their lawyers didn’t think it was possible, but the agency wanted to give it a go (after all, there was probably a guy who thought the Trojan horse was a bad idea). Eventually they secured the rights to the word “Vaterland”. Others have followed. “We also had some failures,” Simon admits. “There was a lot of trial and error. Which was quite expensive, as one trademark costs around 1,600 euros.”

The next step was to go public, drawing attention to the campaign but also to the struggle against the Far Right, which in Germany is increasingly urgent. “We wanted to make the public aware of what we were doing and that we needed some money to keep on going, and that’s where we succeeded quite well.”

In order to target the correct “codes”, the agency took advice from a former neo-Nazi, Philip Schlaffer, who is now an opponent of the movement and wrote a book about his reform. “He used to have a web shop and actually created some of these codes, so he gave us a lot of help as an external consultant. The project required a lot of research – because first you have to find the stores.”

Once you do, however, determining the most popular codes is not that difficult. “They all have filters like ‘Most Sold’, so it became quite clear what we were aiming for. They helped us out, in a way.”

The indie attitude

The most popular codes have become icons within the movement over a number of years. If you destroy them, of course the Nazis can invent new ones – but those will be far less potent, Simon points out.

By the way, you won’t see a photo of Simon or Jan with this article. Philip Schlaffer has informed the agency in no uncertain terms that the Far Right are unhappy with the project. Agency staff have to apply for the trademark rights under different names, to protect their identities. Not your average campaign.

Having said that, taking risks is part of the agency’s DNA, which brings us back to its Independent Agency of the Year status. In an industry where consolidation is rife and indie agencies are slowly disappearing, why does independence remain important for Jung von Matt?

Jan says: “I know it sounds a bit of a cliché, but it's true: independence means freedom to take creative risks. Without external shareholders we can stay true to our vision and our beliefs. If we believe something works, we can do it our way. We don’t have to find a way to, let’s say, ‘bring in the media guys’ from the network. Independence ensures we can focus on clients and not on corporate demands.”