Bonprix is turning 40. Instead of celebrating the brand’s birthday with a classic anniversary campaign, the company is relying on the growth lever of cultural marketing under the overarching anniversary motto “Celebrating 40 in Style”. Based on this, the creative agency Kemmler Kemmler developed a cultural marketing campaign that arouses cultural desires with its activation plan consisting of film, social content and live events.
The focus of the campaign is a high-quality short film with prominent faces from the entertainment industry, which culminates in a live event. With the strategy shift away from pure advertising towards the creation of a cultural blockbuster moment, Kemmler Kemmler is consistently positioning itself as a cultural lead agency.
The campaign
The starting point of the campaign was not the question of an advertising idea, but rather of cultural relevance. Kemmler Kemmler developed a cultural marketing strategy based on strategic analyzes and the in-house data insight platform KX Radar, which translates the bonprix anniversary into a cultural conversation. The combination of data-based insights, strategic brand management, cultural analysis, collaborative creative process and integrated campaign development forms the basis of the entire activation.
The heart of the campaign is a high-quality short film entitled “Forty and Fabulous” with Nina Bott, Laura Osswald, Maria Wedig, Juliette Greco and Oli P. Well-known faces from German TV and soap culture come together in a story that combines humor, glamor and self-irony and tells the reality of life for women 40+ in a contemporary way.
The film, which will premiere on bonprix.de from June 11th, 2026, will dramatically lead to a real anniversary event on June 25th, 2026 in the Curio Haus in Hamburg. This creates a consistent narrative that connects the digital and physical brand worlds. The campaign combines short film, live experience, social content, PR work and media partnerships into an integrated cultural moment.
“”bonprix has understood: Just because it’s a brand’s birthday doesn’t mean everyone is automatically celebrating. To ensure that women 40+ are interested in 40 years of bonprix, we took their pop culture biography seriously and turned it into entertainment. This is exactly how a beautiful brand event also becomes culturally relevant.”
Cultural marketing as a growth driver
The campaign shows how Kemmler Kemmler works. The aim is to use brand communication not only to increase awareness, but also to build cultural relevance. The step from classic brand marketing to cultural marketing creates brand content that enriches the lives of the target groups and creates long-term desire.
In addition to international studies that demonstrate the economic value of cultural relevance, the creative team’s decision is based on insights from the in-house platform KX Radar. KX Radar is the world’s first strategic toolbox that makes cultural relevance visible and measurable. The tool determines and evaluates a brand’s cultural footprint and thus creates the basis for strategically strengthening and specifically expanding its cultural significance and attractiveness.
For bonprix, the Cultural Campaign embodies this approach. A classic brand anniversary becomes a cultural story about style, self-determination and attitude. The film, the event, the media collaborations and the accompanying communication follow a common cultural idea – and not a classic campaign logic. The new strategy not only marks bonprix’s 40th birthday, but also the beginning of a new cultural chapter for the brand.