»That’s why. Hamburg.« To us, it’s the ultimate response for all situations in life. And it’s the ultimate claiming for an international metropolis like ours – more precisely: for a destination as acclaimed and urbane as Hamburg. The image campaign »Weil wir Hamburg sind.« (which unofficially translates back to Because We Are Hamburg) was launched by Hamburg Tourism in 2021 and has since been celebrating terrific successes as it has promoted the particular Hamburg City charm with over 40 different themes – and counting.

All hands on deck, we’re off to rediscover our home port of Hamburg! What attracts people here? What binds people to Hamburg? What does it take for that tingling in the stomach? The iconic agora, the feeling of vastness, freedom. The harbour, the longing, the being able to be oneself. Sparking wanderlust and homesickness alike. The combination of past, present and future in one place becomes our backdrop, the creative idea follows a cinematographic concept of the first order and relies on the greatest-possible craftsmanship in all trades involved.

Moreover, a city only comes to life through its people: We invented a main character for the hero film who is charming and nonchalant, honest, pithy, straight and snotty to the point. A healthy dose of self-irony included. Summing up: the prototypical Hamburg persona.

Together with one of Germany’s leading production companies, 27km, we executed a creative concept that is multimodal and internationally applicable, does justice to all target groups and partners – and is also fun.

In the end, we realized a campaign film that conveys the unique »Hamburg feeling«, which has been the central point of the umbrella campaign from the very beginning, in the form of a veritable short film. The result is a two-minute masterpiece of craftsmanship that can be watched again and again. Our leading persona is Hamburg-based actor Enrique Fiß, whose habitus comes across as authentically »Nordic« with few words and a navy blue sailor’s beanie. Not without a pinch of irony, he leads the audience cut by cut through Hamburg – his metropolis, »the gateway to the world, the El Dorado on the Elbe, the Venice of the North«. Or the place where water is known to come from all directions at all times. But that’s not the only thing people in Hamburg simply take with a sense of humor.

What’s more? We developed six themed films for Hamburg Tourism’s most important industry groups, which present the B2C and B2B fields of gastronomy, culture, outdoor, sustainability, shopping as well as trade fairs and congresses in Hamburg in a snackable collage of quick, clever cuts. Designed from the outset as a participatory marketing tool for the domestic economy, this material is made available to all partners via Hamburg Tourism’s official media centre. Our approach was for the clips to act independently as social-media multipliers of the campaign message, passing on the »that’s why« attitude from their respective touchpoints.