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Great news for the makers of the Birkenstories: the series of films that portrays Birkenstock wearers from all around the world was awarded a Silver Dolphin in the Corporate Online Media/Webisodes category at this year’s Cannes Corporate TV & Media Awards. The customer portraits, which can be found in the magazine section of the online shop (<link https: www.birkenstock.com gb magazine>www.birkenstock.com/gb/magazine/) and in the company’s own social media channels, are produced in-house under the auspices of Armin Block and Felix Hörnke – with a modest budget, but with a great deal of dedication. The episodes offer an insight into the lives, mindsets, and emotions of Birkenstock aficionados. The products and the brand are of secondary importance in the productions and appear only in passing. It was therefore not only the choice of characters and the plots that impressed the jury, but also the films’ noncommercial nature.

Cannes is known for hosting one of the world’s best-known film festivals. What is less well known, however, is that this city on the French Riviera also plays host to the world’s only festival dedicated to corporate films – the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards. Once a year, the highly coveted Dolphin trophies in Gold, Silver, Black, Blue, and White are awarded at the beachside Hotel Palm Beach in Cannes. This celluloid city has been welcoming international film and media makers, production companies, and their clients every fall since 2010 to honor the finest corporate films, documentaries, and reports.

The awards are open to filmmakers, film producers, clients, agencies, TV channels, and students. This year, more than 1,000 competition entries were in the running for one of the prized trophies awarded in 42 categories. A top-caliber jury made up of Emmy and Oscar award winners, film experts, marketing and communications industry experts, and representatives of the clients picked the award winners in the five film categories Corporate Films and Videos, Documentaries and Reports (TV, Online, Cinema), Corporate Online Media, Production Arts & Crafts, and Students. This year, a total of six trophies in Gold and Silver were presented to award winners in the category Webisodes from more than five countries.

The star: you!

Real people with real stories which are told authentically and with respect, without trying to curry favor with the characters or monopolize them and commercialize their stories. “Birkenstories are portraits of people who go through life in Birkenstocks – all over the world, be they a taxi driver in New Delhi, a Nobel laureate in the USA, or a papaya farmer in the Borneo jungle. They are about special characters with a particular attitude. And who all have one thing in common: they have all been committed wearers of Birkenstocks for years.

Incidentally, if this sounds like you, feel free to get involved. For more information, go to: <link https: www.birkenstock-group.com de detail birkenstock-markenfilm-wir-suchen-dich>www.birkenstock-group.com/de/de/detail/birkenstock-markenfilm-wir-suchen-dich/

An overview of BIRKENSTOCK’s competition entries:

Mike Whalen, 58, has been working as a defense attorney in Knoxville, Tennessee, for more than 20 years. Many of his clients only know him because of his sandals. In court, he’s often greeted with “Hey, the lawyer with the Jesus sandals.”

If you’re in Los Angeles and you spot a 1950s race motorcycle with a rider who has a portrait of Beethoven on the back of their leather jacket, it’s pretty certain you have just spotted John Zainer. This is where the 84-year-old jazz pianist and fan of motorbikes lives, together with his German wife Ille. John’s favorite model is a 1956 Norton race motorcycle and his favorite shoes are a pair of Birkenstocks from 1998.

Cole Bennett, a music video director from Chicago, really stirred things up in the social networks with his own platform for artists called Lyrical Lemonade. Cole is known not only for his maverick style which has turned a number of artists from the U.S. rap scene into click millionaires on YouTube, but also for his love of unusual Birkenstocks.

“Jeff Wears Birkenstocks” is a song by the world-famous punk rock band NOFX. But who is this Jeff? Does he really exist? BIRKENSTOCK’s corporate video team went looking for him and met Jeff Abarta, product manager for the punk label Epitaph and this unusual track’s eponymous hero.

Credits:

Armin Block - Chief Editor
Felix Hörnke - Director
Thomas Hamelmann - Camera
Marco Rönnau - Editing