The Eyes Grip You in This German Optician's Love Letter to Vision

The first time I wore glasses, I walked home extra-slow. I could see every vein on every leaf. The world was breathtaking.

I thought about this moment while watching the 2-minute hero ad Mother Berlin made for German optician Fielmann. Though humans disproportionally rely on vision to navigate the world, learn and even diagnose many diseases, advertising in this category isn’t known for its big emotional impact … a surprisingly consistent missed opportunity.

None of this really occurred to us, though, until we watched “Your Glasses: Fielmann.” Then we remembered what it was like to put on specs and experience the world as though we’d never seen it before. The lushness of it filled our chests.

Directed by Joanna Nordahl, the film depicts a number of banal but poignant everyday moments: A man’s quiet time with his horse, a museum guard reminiscing, a couple falling in love, another separating, a bus driver working nights. It’s set to a classical reinterpretation of electronic band Moderat’s “New Error,” and is entirely shot on Kodak 35mm film. 

It ends, “Everyone sees life through a different lens. We make yours.”

The insight is neat, well handled, and precise. Same way you’d want your lenses done. The visuals are crisp but vulnerable to moving panels of light, a quality that engages, and plays with, our capacity to see. This is a work about perspective—how one sees, how one experiences life.

The out-of-home collateral has an unassuming, slice-of-life feel. Shot by photographer Christian Werner, each depicts portraits of ordinary people wearing glasses in everyday contexts. You can check them out below. The full campaign goes live this week throughout Central Europe.

CREDITS

Client – Fielmann
CMO: Benjamin Ludigs
Head of Content & Art Direction: Francesca Manuzzi
Senior Marketing Manager: Christina Appleton, Anja Reimann, Meike Meister
Content & Art Direction Team: Marie Julie Kopf, Ida Eskildsen
Senior Editor: Hanna Simons
Marketing Consultant: Katherine Atkin, Claudia Gebhardt
Media: Stefan Rohde, Patrick Schubring, Tobias Thelemann, Anna Lena Nickelsen, Florian Mueller

Creative, Strategy – Mother Berlin

Production – Anorak
Executive Producer: Christiane Dressler
Producer: Björn Krüger-Levy
Media: Joanna Nordahl
Camera: Erik Henriksson

Post Production: Anorak & Slaughterhouse
Editor: Andreas Arvidsson

Sound: Ponytail Sound

Media Agency – Zenith