Hendrik-Jan Grievink, 23/07/10
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Mercedes-Benz Was Here
In the older days, people had to cross natural barriers like
mountains for survival purposes. Grains from one side of the
mountain was traded with cloth from the other side, for
example. Today, we trade images and visual information
overload has taken the place of the the mountain.
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One can imagine this trading trips our ancestors made could be tough endeavors.
Dangerous slopes and treacherous wheather conditions can take their toll, up in the
mountains. Not to speak of the physical challenge of to climbing a mountain, packed
with trading goods. New technologies like tunnels, cars and helicopters made it possible
to skip the long climbs that take a strain on your body and mountain climbing as a bare
necessity died out, to make place for mountain climbing as a recreational activity.
Not coincidental, this went hand-in-hand with a newly achieved appreciation of nature
in the 18th and 19th century. It where the artists who where at the forefront of this
movement. We need only recall the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)
here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich
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From left to right: Feldhorn (2.037 meters): ‘First!’,
Großer Widderstein (2.533 meters): ‘Great parking spot!’,
Mutterkopf (2.368 meters): ‘Nice view, excellent road!’
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Who ever engaged in mountain climbing in the Alps, knows that at the tops of most
mountains they keep log books, called summit books (In German: gipfelbücher) that
people sign once they’ve climbed the top. Usually people write some short remarks
about their climb, the whether conditions and of course the magnificent view; that’s
what it’s all about!
Advertising agency BBDO Stuttgart (Germany) used this tradition to promote the
extreme off-road ability of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class car series using a clever guerilla-
style take on biomimicmarketing: the usage of images of nature to market products or
services. On their invitation, an all-terrain team of copywriters, art directors and
illustrators left the well-trodden communication paths and climbed to the peaks to
immortalise this car series with artistic, hand drawn ads to prove: the G-Class goes further.
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Mercedes-Benz / Caspar David Friedrichs infotizement by Hendrik-Jan Grievink
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As climbing is very popular in germany and every climber looks into the summit book,
the campaign resulted in 190 test drives at Mercedes-Benz dealerships within just a few
days. Photos of the advertisements appeared in several climbers blogs, at flickr.com and
in local dailies. This high altitude campaign resulted in almost 200 test drives for Mercedes.
Ironically, it takes an important player in the automotive industry to remind us that our
natural environment has been largely replaced by a world of design: the main reason we
can afford to go mountain climbing as a leisure activity and appreciate the sublime
qualities of a good mountain view (like in this advertisement) is the emergence of
transportation tools – like the car!
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