The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2024
F.A.Z. makes a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor the 100th 'brilliant mind' of its ads
As right-wing extremism rose in Germany, F.A.Z. made Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer, 102, the 100th 'brilliant mind' behind its paper.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.)
What it had to solve
For 29 years, the F.A.Z. newspaper had advertised with its greatest asset, its readers: 99 well-known personalities from politics, business, culture and sport photographed with their faces hidden behind the newspaper, true to the claim 'There is always a brilliant mind behind it.' As Germany saw right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism rise, the paper wanted the 100th edition of the campaign to take a stand for humanity and tolerance.
How it works
For 29 years, the F.A.Z. newspaper advertised with its greatest asset: its readers. Ninety-nine well-known personalities from politics, business, culture and sport had been photographed with their faces hidden behind the newspaper, true to the claim that there is always a brilliant mind behind it.
As Germany saw right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism rise in recent years, the paper decided its landmark 100th edition should take a stand for humanity and tolerance rather than continue the series as before.
The answer was a change of cast, not of format: F.A.Z. asked 102-year-old Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer to be part of the campaign. The signature pose that had celebrated achievement now carried a witness to what intolerance can do.
The 100th edition turned a 29-year advertising asset into a moral statement, using the series' own anniversary to put the newspaper publicly behind the values it wanted to defend. The D&AD archive records no response figures for the work.
Why it lands
- The milestone made the message unavoidable: the 100th portrait could not pass without an audience asking who was behind the paper and why.
- Keeping the campaign's pose made the shift legible — the same frame that once honored achievement now honored survival, and the contrast did the arguing.
- A Holocaust survivor is the strongest possible answer to rising antisemitism: the claim 'a brilliant mind behind it' gains a meaning no slogan could add.
- By acting in its own medium, the newspaper stayed true to its identity: F.A.Z. used its most recognizable advertising series rather than a one-off statement.
What it did
The 100th edition converted a 29-year advertising series into a public stand for humanity and tolerance at a moment of rising extremism in Germany. The D&AD archive lists the work in its Photography section and records no response figures.
What you can take
When a format has run for decades, its landmark edition can change what the format means: keep the signature pose, recast who is in it, and the shift needs no explaining.
Since then
The D&AD awards archive lists The 100th Edition in its Photography section, with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as client. The page records no circulation or response figures, so the case stands on the decision itself: at the 100th portrait of a 29-year 'brilliant minds' campaign, run while right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism were rising in Germany, F.A.Z. asked 102-year-old Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer to be part of it, turning the series into a public stand for humanity and tolerance.
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