SUMMERTIME, AND THE BLOGGING WILL BE EASY

Fussball and volk - Germans seize their chance to rebrand a nation (Roger Boyes, The Sunday Times, June 4th, 2006)

Forget the Bratwurst and the Lederhosen. Claudia Schiffer will be using the elegant Belgravia premises of the German Embassy on Monday to front one of the most ambitious rebranding campaigns of modern times: the selling of Germany as a country at ease with itself.

“It’s time to end the clichés about Germany,” says the blonde supermodel who helped to promote her country’s bid to host the World Cup.

The tournament kicks off on Friday and the spotlight will shine on Germany for five weeks, exposing its cracks and self-doubts but also providing Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, with a unique chance to change the national image.

A million tourists are expected to visit the country; hundreds of millions will watch on TV. The audience for the final on July 9 will be more than one billion. It is an ad man’s dream.

“We want to do this with lightness,” said Schiffer in an interview with The Times. “We need to show that Germans really do have a sense of humour and a creative flair.”

The London-based model is promoting a campaign called The Land of Ideas, which is supposed to show the world that Germany is more than Hitler and the Nazis: the country is, among other things, a land of inventors who came up with the aspirin, the laptop and the spiked running shoe.

Schiffer’s own Big Idea is to wrap herself naked in the German flag, which — since the result will be shown on billboards in London, New York and Tokyo — is not a bad idea at all. The caption will read: “Come over to my place.” [...]

And then there is the sudden commitment to being friendly, to creating a service culture that could survive beyond the World Cup.

Waitresses are being trained to say: “Did you enjoy your meal?” (hat es geschmeckt?) rather than the more common “Well, are you full?” (Na, satt geworden?) Bus and taxi drivers have been learning English. There are Laugh Academies, Smile Schools. For many, an embarrassment.

“It’s as if everyone has emerged from a psychiatric unit,” grumbles my neighbour, Rainer Vogel, a 67-year-old building magnate. “Or had too much Californian sun,” chips in Konrad Kutt, a 60-year-old civil servant counting the days to retirement.

And you thought the Eurovision Song Contest was a hoot.