How do you follow a promotion that already became a fan favorite?
For NIVEA MEN’s annual campaign with brand ambassador Jogi Löw, the task was to develop a new promotional item capable of driving product sales while creating enough relevance to stand out beyond the promotion itself. The previous year’s tactical World Cup towel had set a high benchmark.
The next idea needed to do more than simply repeat the formula.
#Erfolgsrezepte original idea was to translated Jogi Löw’s football mindset into a cookbook. His favorite dishes reimagined through football language, commentary-style copy and playful recipe names — turning a promotional giveaway into something fans could genuinely use, share and talk about.
The client saw enough potential in the idea to expand the promotion idea further, bringing chef Tim Mälzer on board alongside Jogi Löw. What began as a football-inspired novelty item evolved into a fully realized cookbook and testimonial campaign built around two very different interpretations of success: football and food.
The activation was rolled out across promotional packaging, retail, digital content and campaign communication, with Jogi Löw and Tim Mälzer serving as the central duo.
The cookbook became the physical centerpiece of the campaign, while the personalities and their contrasting worlds gave the promotion a much broader entertainment value. According to client feedback and campaign data, #Erfolgsrezepte became NIVEA MEN’s most successful promotional activation to that point, outperforming previous editions in media awareness, conversion and reach. The cookbook also generated press interest around the promotion itself — something earlier editions had struggled to achieve.
This project still matters to me because it was one of the first ideas I developed as a Junior Art Director and pushed beyond the initial presentation.
At first, there was some hesitation around whether the client would buy into it. I believed the idea had more potential, so I kept developing and refining it until, six weeks later, it finally made its way into the presentation as a wildcard.
The client loved it.
Seeing that wildcard grow into a major NIVEA MEN activation taught me something early on that has stayed with me ever since: a simple, ownable idea can travel surprisingly far when you give it enough conviction, care and persistence. And to trust my gut.
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FCB Hamburg x NIVEA MEN Deutschland
2017 -
Junior Art Director
Concept Development
Art Direction
Production Support -
Talent
Joachim “Jogi” Löw
Tim Mälzer
Creative Team
Patrik Hartmann (CD)
Michael Okun (CD)
Benjamin Zerning (AD)
Florian Hofmaier (Copy)
Production
Mayk Azzato (Director/Photo)
additional credits to be verified