Guido Heffels: The Ideas Man

Guido Heffels is one of the founding members of Heimat – the 12-year-old agency renowned for its work for DIY superstore chain Hornbach. In his office on the roof of a grey block in Berlin’s multicultural Kreuzberg borough, far enough away from the hordes of the industry in the Mitte, the trailblazer talks about brand values, avoiding advertising people at lunchtime, playing the clown and hiring rappers.

Why did you decide to start Heimat in Berlin? 

We had to start somewhere else, not in Hamburg. It was posh to be in the advertising community there. I like it here because you don’t have to wear a suit or whatever. It’s all about the work here, especially when you’re an independent agency. You don’t have to play advertising, which sometimes happens (elsewhere). You meet a lot of people in the German advertising community and think, ‘why is this guy still in charge of the whole agency?’ Because someone has to find out or tell him that he has no idea what he’s talking about. How is it possible that he made it so far up the career ladder?

Heimat was one of the first five agencies in the city, but lots of others have opened in Berlin since, why is that? 

Everyone in the industry wants to open an office in Berlin. They want to be part of this so-called Berlin creativity. But I think if it’s not in you, you cannot buy it here. You have to bring it with you. The middle of Berlin has become a little like Hamburg now, because in every second house there is an advertising agency, and that was the reason we moved from Hamburg to Berlin, because I am not willing to spend my lunchtime with advertising people.

People really respect the agency…  I think we are damn proud of what we achieve in this business at the moment because we are successful, but we are not willing to sacrifice anymore. There’s a certain point that you can reach on your own when you’re an independent agency, but when you move one step further I think you have to sacrifice a few values. That’s something that we’re just not willing to do.

So you’re not trying to make the agency as big as possible? 

No. This is not that type of agency. We have 90-something people but our idea was always to make sure that whenever we hire someone we are able to pay his wages for two years. Social responsibility is important to us.

You’ve got a reputation for doing the best creative work…  Oh, we’re ok. We can do better probably, but one of the things that we are very proud of is that whatever we do, it is not made for awards shows, it’s real work. This is the idea behind our agency. It’s the harder way but I think it tastes better at the end.

Germany is known for being the second or third most important advertising nation in the world when it comes to winning awards, but to be honest, what you see on TV, in print or outdoor is crap. A lot of German agencies have people working for them just to create award-show work. That was not the reason I entered this business.

Why did you enter the business? 

It was still the time when there was no such thing as a Miami Ad School or a copywriters’ school, which we have in Hamburg. I was studying graphic design in Düsseldorf and someone asked me if I wanted to be a copywriter. I said, “what does that mean? Let’s give it a try”. When I was 18 I wasn’t able to tell someone that I wanted to be part of the advertising industry. I had no idea, it just happened.

Do you think that there’s a need for advertising or copywriting schools? 

These days, when it comes to creativity, I think people entering the industry have to be educated in such a way that they are capable of doing different kinds of creative disciplines. The so-called copywriter does not exist or has no future anymore, because you have to think in all possible media solutions.

What I personally don’t like about these advertising schools is that they are very much into winning awards, but at the end of the day you have to be honest with yourself. I think this business is about earning some money. You have to pay the rent. So it’s not only about award shows anymore. Whenever you hire someone, he has to have the guts or the ability to create some great work that clients think is relevant and is maybe solving their problem. That’s what we are hired for.

How do you recruit people? Where do you find them? 

We had one guy who was a rapper, he’d released his second album already. He came here and said, ‘maybe the rap business is not the business for me, but here are some of my lyrics’. We gave him a try and he became a copywriter. That’s what I like about Berlin. Strange things seem to happen here.

The work for Hornbach is your most famous. Does it help you attract other clients? 

Yeah, sometimes. But a lot of new clients ask, ‘can we do something like Hornbach?’ I say, ‘you have to be ready for that’. We took that client by the hand and showed him the direction to the Promised Land. What I like about the work we do for Hornbach is that long-lasting relationships pay off at the end because you create a kind of trust.

Of course, people in this industry want to work for Hornbach, but sometimes it seems easy and in fact it’s not. It’s a long process. We still love this client, and it helps a lot when it comes to the agency’s reputation, but we don’t want to be limited only to Hornbach.

You meet some new clients and when they arrive at this building and you look into their faces, you know whether they want you or they don’t want you. We met people from a ‘posh’ brand two weeks ago. We had a very nice conversation with them but at the end we looked into each others’ eyes and I knew they didn’t want us because of this area (Kreuzberg). This is not posh. They want someone who’s more premium.

So how would you describe Heimat, because the work is premium, isn’t it? 

Yeah sometimes, but it’s honest, what we do. We’re not into lying to the consumers. We have a great crew of people here who want to do great work and also suffer a little bit from that.

It’s brutally honest and that’s the way that we talk to each other. There is no politics here. Whenever you have a problem you have to talk to the people, and you’re allowed to talk to whoever. These days it’s not only about working together – I think somehow we live together. The people take care of each other and it’s more of a community. That’s the way we like it.

Obviously you enjoy what you do, but when you tell people that you work in advertising, does it make you feel uncomfortable?  In general I hide it a little bit because of course you can be proud of what you do, but sometimes you meet people who suddenly talk in a different way to you. They show a lot of respect and it’s only advertising, hey, c’mon, wake up!

Would you say that people in Berlin are kind of anti-advertising? 

No, they’re pro-advertising, they’re still in this business. But it’s a new generation that’s coming up and I think they want to do it in a very different way. Hopefully the clients will follow. I’ve been in this industry 20 years. I was part of the Clio jury a couple of months ago in Sante Fe and was involved in this very interesting category called Content and Contact. It was fun because I saw the work and I started rethinking my image of advertising. It thrilled me. It was all about great ideas that change peoples’ behavior in a positive way. I think this is a very good reason to still be in the business because this business changes a lot. I’m not talking about digital, it’s the way, suddenly there are advertising ideas that are about values. It’s brands that want to be seen in a very positive way, but they are willing to act positively, too.

How often do you decline the invitation to pitch? 

We turn down about 50 per cent of all new business invitations because sometimes you know from the very beginning you’re the invited clown to add some Berlin-ness to the overall presentation, but you never really had a chance.

How does working at an independent agency compare to a network? 

When I started in this industry my biggest wish was to avoid being an employee for the rest of my life. There are some people in this business who like being part of a network agency, which is good, but for me, personally, it is a waste of time because there are so many meetings. More Asian, European, world meetings. Whoa! I don’t need that. That was not the plan of my life, to be part of these master classes of ego.