Exactly 10 years ago Hamburg took my heart by storm. Which is why the question didn’t even pose itself any longer in 2003 when everything revolved around looking for the ideal location for the Dragon Rouge branch to be newly created in Germany: I wanted to stay here, live here and work here, a ‘gut decision’ coupled with the most rational argument on the table: The top agency scene resides here, the best strategic and creative talent is found here.

So, besides this ‘hypercreative’ factor, what’s so special about Hamburg? This simultaneously conservative and ‘in your face’ Hanseatic city has commerce in its blood. The dynamics, innovative power and courage to change within its genes. A fantastic genetic make-up, an absolute prerequisite when you want to assure a fresh wind in your clients’ sails each and every day.

What else makes us so enthusiastic daily? The architecture, the cultural offer and the food & beverages proffered. The port, of course: every day Dragon Rouge looks straight at the Elbe River, at the ships, at this “souffle du grand monde”. The open-mindedness that the Hanseatic Leaguers of yore generally offer, a far cry from the clichés about cold-shouldered Northerners. The cosmopolitan facet. Hamburg is a melting-pot, yet one which has preserved its own culture and traditions, its strong personality, and deliberately cultivates these elements, too.

A strong identity on the one hand, a fusion of cultures on the other. A paradise for cosmopolitan minds… Many of my German acquaintances ask me: How can a French woman live here and be happy? She can do it quite well – even wonderfully “wunderbar”.
In this global metropolis with humane dimensions, I can live the combination of “rigueur allemande” & “légèreté française” daily while I continuously enact them in my work at Dragon Rouge: the suspense-filled fusion of two complementary cultures: hard work and entrepreneurial spirit (typically German Protestant?) spiced with freshness, spontaneity and passion (typically French?). Values that Hamburg equally possesses and celebrates each day. Hamburg, meine Perle, je t’adore...