Title	BREXIT
Brand	LIBERAL DEMOCRATES / FDP
Product/Service	LIBERAL DEMOCRATES / FDP
Category	B07. Events & Stunts
Entrant	HEIMAT Berlin, GERMANY
Idea Creation	HEIMAT Berlin, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Andreas Mengele	HEIMAT Berlin	Chief Strategy Officer
Jonathan Nausner	HEIMAT Berlin	Strategy
Karolin Saak	HEIMAT Berlin	Account Manager
Elisabeth Treichel	HEIMAT Berlin	Account Manager
Olga Söderlund	HEIMAT Berlin	Account Manager
Guido Heffels	HEIMAT Berlin	Chief Creative Officer
Matthias Storath	HEIMAT Berlin	Executive Creative Director
Berthold Brodowski	HEIMAT Berlin	Copywriter
Andrea Masihi	HEIMAT Berlin	Art Director
André Kadanik	HEIMAT Berlin	Print Production
Lisa Teichmann	HEIMAT Berlin	Print Production
Marco Thau	HEIMAT Berlin	Post Production Film
Frank Gräfe	Eat, Sleep + Design Berlin	Illustration
Torsten Grau	Free Democratic Party / FDP	Head of Client Services

The Campaign

While others still discussed the effects of the Brexit, Berlin’s Liberal Democrats seized the opportunity by building on their core expertise: economic policy. On July 5th, they invited London’s start-ups to move to Berlin with a single poster mocking Britains iconic World War II slogan. The London coup became a global discussion on social media within hours. From Handelsblatt to Wall Street Journal, from Berliner Morgenpost to The Guardian, from BILD to The Sun, everyone was talking about it and “Dear start-ups, Keep Calm and Move to Berlin” probably became the most quoted headline of the year.

Execution

On July 5th, the Liberal Democrats drove a billboard through the city of London inviting London start-ups to "Keep Calm and Move to Berlin". The mobile billboard targeted frequented areas, media houses and the Shoreditch area around the Silicon Roundabout in order to catch the attention of the London start-up and business scene. Within minutes the billboard was photographed and shared throughout London and became talk of the town, then of Berlin and then of the whole business world. With no influencer and no media spending at all, the campaign relied fully on sparking user generated content and word of mouth. And it did successfully: the responses from the street, the amusement and the outrage in thousands of tweets and posts triggered local and worldwide media coverage. A single billboard turned into the global symbol of Berlin's claim to become the next start-up capital of Europe.

"Keep Calm and Move to Berlin" earned 200 million media impressions, a total media value of € 6 million and sparked global conversation. In addition, it had immense real impact for Berlin: Within a month after the invitation more than 100 London start-ups had contacted the Berlin city council regarding potential moves. The global buzz successfully kicked off the election campaign for the Berlin Liberal Democrats bringing them back on the radar within the electorate and specifically within business owners, entrepreneurs and start-up founders. In the election, voters rewarded the party, which had shown the most initiative for the business location Berlin. The Liberal Democrats more than tripled their votes from the last election, raising from 1,8% to 6,7%, successfully returning to the Berlin city council.

The Situation

Berlin’s Liberal Democrats used the Brexit to sharpen their economic profile for all the world to see, while building on the reputation of being the number one start-up stakeholder in Germany. Not only was the message decisive, but the swift and simple execution was also in spirit with the values the Liberal Democrats embody.

The Strategy

After a 5 year hiatus from the Berlin city council, the Liberal Democrats were facing an uphill battle for the elections. They had little media attention and one of the lowest budgets of all parties to get their vision of a leaner governnment and better functioning city out to the voters. The only possible strategy was to earn the attention of voters and media through actions and stunts that got talked about and generated noise. The campaign would aim to identify opportunities where the core ideas and competences of the Liberal Democrats coincided with great audiences and high potential for interaction. Brexit offered a great opportunity when in its wake a question surfaced: "Will Berlin become the next start-up capital of Europe?". The Liberal Democrats seized the moment to move faster than Berlin’s government and prove their compentence in economic policy with a bold statement for the city of Berlin.