On Sunday, when thieves climbed to a second-floor window of the Louvre, grabbed jewels of staggering worth and descended to their getaway scooters via a furniture elevator, many in France were stunned and furious.
But the German company that made the elevator saw a once-in-a-lifetime marketing opportunity.
Alexander Böcker, the chief executive of the German machinery company Böcker, and his wife, Julia Scharwatz, recognized their Agilo truck-lift instantly, he said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday. A day after the heist, they rolled out a new advertising campaign on social media.
“When you’re in a hurry, the Böcker Agilo carries your heavy treasures,” the ad boasted under a photo of the lift parked outside the Louvre.
Their speedy marketing campaign captured an internet frenzy about the heist, which took less than 10 minutes and left no injuries except French pride. The company bought the rights to the photo on Monday morning after a bit of brainstorming by Mr. Böcker, Ms. Scharwatz and their employees.
“We have even had feedback from abroad saying, ‘Hey, you Germans do have a sense of humor after all,’” Mr. Böcker said in the Reuters interview.
Böcker’s headquarters in Werne, a town in western Germany, is nearly 400 miles from the Louvre. Ms. Scharwatz said in an email that the Agilo elevator that turned up at the Louvre had been stolen from a company in Paris that bought it from Böcker in 2020.
Mr. Böcker told Reuters that they decided to make the ad only after it became clear that no one had been hurt, and they had not actively promoted the ad in France. At home, though, the ad has been a hit with Germans who seem to be feeling at least some schadenfreude — or pleasure from their neighbor’s misfortune.
“Excellent,” wrote a commenter on Böcker’s Instagram post. “This is German quality.”
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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