MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

Daring Louvre heist presents an unexpected marketing opportunity

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2025

German family–run business suddenly finds itself in the midst of a global media frenzy and decides to seize the moment.

Sometimes marketing opportunities are the result of carefully crafted strategies devised by CMOs, their marketing teams and their communications agencies. On other occasions, unimagined opportunities simply rise up in front of you. 

 

Such is the case with Böcker, a well-established family-run business in Germany. Böcker manufactures the Agilo furniture elevator – an external ladder-lift used to move large, heavy items up or down a building, typically through windows or balconies.

 

It saves time and effort by bypassing narrow stairwells and hallways and is popular in Europe, where buildings are small and access is limited. They can be trailer-mounted or vehicle-mounted. 

 

Useful, but unremarkable. Until your ladder-lift becomes a focus of global attention because it was used in possibly the highest-profile jewel heist of the decade. 

Photo: Instagram

In case you haven’t guessed it, the Agilo furniture elevator was used by the daring thieves who last week stole jewellery worth around US$90-million from the famous Louvre museum in Paris. The elevator has since been seen thousands – possible millions – of times in media reports around the world, as it stands abandoned on the pavement with its hoist up against the first-floor balcony where the thieves gained access. 

 

Realising it had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Böcker management swiftly produced a social media advertising campaign featuring a photo of their lift outside the Louvre and surrounded by French police. 

 

When you need to be fast and quiet 

 

The headline (translated from German) reads ‘When you need to move fast’ and the body copy tells would-be buyers that it can carry ‘up to 400kg of treasures at 42m per minute – as quiet as a whisper’. 

 

“It became clear to us, oh my goodness, this is a reprehensible act and they’ve misused our device to do it,” marketing boss Julia Scharwatz is quoted as saying in the London-based The Guardian newspaper. 

 

“But after it was apparent that no one had been hurt, we started making a few jokes and putting our heads together on slogans we found funny.” 

 

According to Scharwatz, “countless people – our staff, business partners, clients – got in touch with us and we thought, wow, we have to do something with this”. 

 

The company’s managing director, Alexander Böcker, told news agency AFP that, when it became clear no one was injured in the heist, it had used “a touch of humour” to draw attention to the family-run business. 

 

“The crime is, of course, absolutely reprehensible, that’s completely clear to us,” Böcker said. “It was… an opportunity for us to use the most famous and most visited museum in the world to get a little attention for our company.” 

 

Reaction to the campaign has been varied. One social media user thought the marketing department “deserves a pay rise”, while another user called it “tasteless”. 

 

French police have since arrested two people in connection with the heist. 

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