Europe

"Keep Calm and Move to Berlin"

A van displaying a large billboard is currently driving through London, inviting start-up businesses to move to the german capital

July 06th, 2016
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London locals have over the last number of weeks, been witness to an advertising van driving around the city. However this advertising van is the carrier of a large bill board on which there is an invitation to the start-up businesses of the city to move to Berlin. The designers of the advertisement have used the famous British slogan ‘keep calm and carry on’ in their advertisement campaign writing ‘Dear start-ups, keep calm and move to Berlin.’

The campaign was founded by the FDP, the German Freie Demokratische Partei, a political party which is currently a member of the government being led by Angela Merkel. Even before the advertising campaign began, several London start-ups specializing in technology, including DueDil and Conversocial, have stated that they are considering the option of opening offices abroad as a result of the referendum which resulted in the UK deciding to leave the EU.

The Bloomberg News reporter Stephen Morris was among the first to tweet a photo of the van, with the caption: "The vultures are circling." Another Twitter user commented by writing: "From the country that invented the word Schadenfreude," a reference to the German term for the joy to someone else's misfortune.

Berlin is widely regarded as one of the leading startup hubs in Europe. It is considerably cheaper than London and is home to a growing number of young technology companies, including the likes of Rocket Internet, Wunderlist, and SoundCloud.

Hufftington Post UK reported that a FDP party spokesperson told the campaign was about promoting being “forward-thinking, courageous and not accepting things that are not working right”
Sebastian Czaja, Secretary General of the Berlin FDP, added: "Many start-ups don't see their future in London after last week’s decision of the UK leaving the EU. And as Berlin is one of the worldwide start-up capitals, quite a number of them might move towards the German capital, where the rapidly growing start-up community offers a highly creative environment for business."

References:

Cultural Diplomacy News
Jessica Sama, CD News