Babylon Berlin Pitch
Pitch for a website to accompany the production of Babylon Berlin, a new record-budget German TV series directed by Tom Tykwer and co-financed by Sky and ARD.Set in the late 1920s, Babylon Berlin follows the trail of Inspector Gereon Rath through a world of drugs and politics, murder and art, emancipation and extremism.
Our proposal illuminates these stark contrasts, in a mix of underworld, glamour, partying and decadence. Harsh black-and-white photography is contrasted with golden fingerprints and blood splatters, handwriting from police files with elegant 1920s typography, sombre, melancholic images with abstract, shiny gold geometric patterns.
The website itself was intended to document the process of creating the series. A log-in for B2B customers gave access to background information in the form of a production calendar that could be filled in by the many parties involved.
The site was to be flanked by promotional measures such as a crime game in a virtual mix of today’s Berlin and that of the 1920s, we sketched on the appropriate business stationery, planned a secret speakeasy, maps and travel guides to relevant locations, and – our personal favourite – a give-away in the form of a bottle of local gin with a severed golden finger.
As part of our SEO strategy, we also proposed a 1920s themed platform that would show what remained of the era – visible in the streetscape of Berlin or rooted in the culture.