In December 2021, Apple opened a new store in Berlin Mitte. Since the fall of the Wall in 1989, the Mitte district has evolved into a hotspot of creative freedom. However, its magic is being jeopardised by gentrification and commercial brands trying to profit from its unique creative energy.

The brief was to find a locally relevant idea for the Apple Store opening campaign. We wanted to gain the trust of the local creative community by showing that we were there to contribute to Mitte’s creativity rather than just profit from it. For the wider audience, the objective was to generate excitement and buzz around the store opening.

The idea was executed across numerous deliverables, but restricted to the front and interior of the store itself, as well as across our German Apple website and other interactive spaces.

The Apple brand is deeply rooted in the creative community, with the same passion for new ideas and disruptive change.

Berlin Mitte itself is a place of constant transformation. Construction sites are so omnipresent, they have become part of the city’s ever-changing identity. For many locals, “under construction” has become a lifestyle.

Mitte’s many construction sites have curious pink and blue pipes conducting water away into the River Spree. In the pink and blue pipes, we chose a prominent local cue to inspire our store identity design. The concept of “Ideas under construction” celebrates the creative process. Together with the tagline “What idea are you working on?”, it gave the Apple brand an authentic reason to be in Mitte – supporting all those who work on new creative endeavours.

Core audience: Mitte’s diverse, international community, mainly working in the creative industries.

Wider audience: all Berliners and visitors to the city.

We chose the pipes connected to Berlin’s construction sites as our key visual inspiration for the store identity.

Collaborating with local illustrator Sharmila Banerjee, all pipes were drawn by hand, with numerous iterations in style, colour and size. The final design shows a maze of pipes displaying endless creativity with Apple products and hidden details for Mitte’s community to discover.

The pipes integrated every element and touchpoint, from the 126 square metre store front installation to animations, murals, a bespoke Apple logo and even a custom-made typeface, as well as an Apple Music “Mitte” playlist curated by local music collective Live from Earth.

The 7x18 metre store front installation was printed on backlit fabric panels in aluminium frames and set up behind the window glass. All campaign elements were directly connected and restricted to the Apple Store, with no advertising beyond the store location and Apple owned digital media.

Opening in a neighbourhood where big tech is not always welcome, “Ideas under construction” has helped the new Apple Store define its role for the local community.

Our measure of success was acceptance by that community and so, through celebrating a local icon (the pipes) in an unexpected, playful way, we found a design that visibly created excitement and anticipation. Passers-by stopped to marvel at the life-size pipes, taking photos and videos. The installation added to Mitte’s special ingredient of unexpected beauty and creativity. And the design was loved by the local community. Store-front images and wallpapers were shared on social media, creating exceptionally positive buzz within the target audience and even beyond Germany.

Busy from day one, Apple Rosenthaler Strasse has swiftly become part of the neighbourhood and accepted into Mitte’s creative community. Because of its success, Apple decided to extend the campaign into January 2022.