"Quiet as a whisper": German lift company turns Louvre heist into one of the best ads ever made
Thieves used their lift to pull off the 7-minute daylight heist at the Louvre and escape with Napoleon's crown jewels.
When your product becomes part of an €88 million museum robbery, you can either panic... or turn it into gold.
That's exactly what Böcker, a family-run lift manufacturer from Werne, Germany, did this week after discovering that one of its furniture elevators had played an unexpected supporting role in the audacious Louvre heist in Paris.
The company's sleek Agilo lift, normally used to move sofas and pianos (not priceless jewels) was spotted in footage of the thieves' getaway, its metal ladder extending elegantly up to a first-floor window of the world's most famous museum.
Within minutes, the burglars had vanished into the Paris night, reportedly carrying off Napoleonic treasures worth €88 million. And instead of hiding from the attention, Böcker leaned right into it, thanks to a campaign on Facebook and Instagram.
Less than 24 hours later, the company posted a cheeky new campaign on Facebook and Instagram with the tagline: "When you need to move fast." The post shows the very lift used in the robbery: "Up to 400kg of treasures at 42m per minute as quiet as a whisper."
According to marketing chief Julia Scharwatz, she and her husband Alexander Böcker, the firm's third-generation CEO, couldn't believe what they were seeing when the story first broke. "It became clear to us, oh my goodness, they've misused our device," she said.
"But after realizing no one was hurt, we started making a few jokes and brainstorming slogans we found funny." By Monday morning, the campaign was live. Böcker's posts, which usually reach around 15,000 people, suddenly rocketed to 1.7 million views.
Not everyone shared the sense of humor, but the majority applauded the company for its quick wit. And while it's too soon to say if viral fame will translate into sales, Scharwatz confirmed they've already received "a few inquiries about a furniture lift."
Not bad for a business whose motto was already "My way to the top." After this week, Böcker may just have found the fastest way there.