A German manufacturer has turned this week's Paris art heist into an unexpected marketing moment.
The company behind the furniture elevator used by the thieves in the dramatic Oct. 19 Louvre robbery -- in which priceless Napoleonic jewels valued at roughly $102.63 million were stolen -- is now capitalizing on the global attention with a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign.
Husband-and-wife team Alexander Böcker and Julia Scharwatz, who head Böcker Maschinenwerke in Werne, western Germany, immediately recognized the equipment featured in photos of the crime scene circulating worldwide. The lift, an Agilo model produced by their firm, had been used by the burglars to haul away their loot through a museum window.
Once they confirmed that no one had been injured in the theft, the couple decided to seize the publicity opportunity. They purchased the rights to one of the now-famous images and published an ad the following day, Oct. 20. The campaign slogan read: "When you're in a hurry, the Böcker Agilo carries your heavy treasures."
Böcker told The New York Times that the company had no plans to actively promote the ad in France, but the reaction elsewhere was immediate. Speaking to Reuters, he said, "We have even had feedback from abroad saying, 'Hey, you Germans do have a sense of humor after all.'"
Ironically, Böcker revealed that the Agilo elevator in question had itself been stolen -- taken from a Paris-based company that had originally purchased it from Böcker Maschinenwerke in 2020.
The daring heist, which has left France reeling, continues to dominate headlines -- and now, inadvertently, serves as an unorthodox showcase for German engineering and gallows humor.