BLUT Goes Effie 2023

BLUT goes Effie 2023
For the second year in a row, we had the honor of designing the musical program for the GWA-Effie Awards. This time, the award ceremony took place in the Felsenkeller in Leipzig and was themed around this historic location. The large festival hall served as a meeting place for the Leipzig workers’ movement for many years. Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and Ernst Thälmann spoke here, while Rosa Luxemburg made a particularly strong impact with her famous speech “The World Political Situation,” in which she stated: “As long as capital rules, armaments and war will not cease.”
The queer activist and host Tarik Tesfu welcomed the audience with “today I am your Rosa Luxemburg,” and the punk band AOP, casted by BLUT, performed the anti-fascism song “Bei Hitlers brennt noch Licht.” BLUT founder, Timo Blunck, was immediately impressed by the scrappy charm of the slightly rundown ballroom on his first visit and had the brilliant idea to theme this year’s Effie around a punk concert. Lighting and visuals followed the musical ambiance.
The highly political program was also reflected in the winner of the Grand Effie: The Grand Effie 2023 and gold in the “Brand Image” category went to the initiative “Together #Against Hate on the Net” by Saatchi & Saatchi Düsseldorf and Mataracan for Deutsche Telekom. The campaign, which aims to encourage people to show more civil courage in the fight against hate on the net, reinterpreted the 1986 song “You’re the Voice” by John Farnham.
This, of course, delights our Head Of Production and “resident Aussie” Michael Robb, who grew up surrounded by the epic anthems of this Australian superstar. Michael says, “John Farnham is God! Or was that Kylie Minogue? Doesn't matter... they're the only two musicians I care about”.