At just 28-years-old, account director Amelie Harich, who spent the last year managing the Mercedes-Benz account for top European ad agency Antoni, has quickly become a leading force in the advertising industry on an international level.
Harich, who began her career at Serviceplan at the age of 23, says humbly, “I’ve been very lucky in my career and appreciate all the great chances I got. Fortunately, I made the most of them, and it seems that this has paid off.”
Though Harich’s young age compared to most others holding similar positions in the field has undoubtedly made her stand out, it’s the caliber of her work and the powerful clients that she handles that have made her such a recognizable force in the industry. For proof of this, we needn’t look any further than the overwhelming success of the campaigns she was involved in this year for leading luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, such as “Grow Up” and “Easy Driver.”
Referred to by Ad Age as Mercedes-Benz Biggest Content Campaign To Date, Harich and the team at Antoni created “Grow Up,” a powerful and innovative campaign that moved away from traditional car advertising campaigns of yore and placed the focus instead on the lifestyle essence of the brand by connecting the company’s luxury cars with the stories of real people.
The campaign earned the prestigious Bronze Entertainment Lion in the Online Fiction Series category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which is considered the most respected and coveted awards events in the entire advertising and creative communications industry.
“Grow Up is about people and their stories, which is unusual for a car manufacturer. The campaign plays with contradictions, the voice-over says, ‘Grow-Up. Dress proper,’ and you see a tattooed man,” explains Harich.
“What we wanted to say is– if you’re driving a Mercedes-Benz compact class, you are basically living your parents life. That’s now possible with the freedom of youth. You don’t have to be stuck in the classic ‘father-mother-child’ image, you can adapt and establish your own tradition and rules.”
With the goal of targeting a younger audience, Harich and the team at Antoni brought in celebrity icons such as A$AP Rocky, which epitomize the non-traditional attitude of what it means to be a ‘grown up’ in modern times.
Another major highlight of Harich’s work with Antoni was the unforgettable Mercedes-AMG “Easy Driver” Super Bowl commercial, which aired on February 5th and was directed by none other than the Coen Brothers. Not only had the Coen Brothers not directed a Super Bowl commercial in 15 years, but the commercial was also the first one to be produced by a German advertising agency, a big win for Harich and the Antoni team.
“It was a very big honor for Antoni to be the very first German advertising agency to produce a Super Bowl commercial ” explains Harich.
“Usually, the American agency working for Mercedes-Benz, Merkley + Partners NYC, produces the Super Bowl commercial. This time, the client liked our concept better than the American one…. it played with the forerunner of Americanness, Easy Rider and Peter Fonda. Easy Rider was all about open air, the love of the drive and freedom as a the result of the machine you are on, and that set up a really nice parallel to the car, the AMG GT convertible. When the Coen brothers were in, it all came together and the Easy Rider became the Easy Driver.”
