Michael Schöpf and Walter Ziegler of Havas Munich, explore an impactful project for Getty Images, which aligns incredible historical photos with powerful images of current events.
The campaign ‘History Repeats,’ showcases the brand’s incredible archive of historical imagery, and demonstrates the common threads that run through time.
Here, Michael and Walter, Creative Directors, explain Havas Germany’s relationship with Getty Images and the concept behind the project.
“History Repeats” by Havas Germany for Getty Images 
“History Repeats” by Havas Germany for Getty Images 
“History Repeats” by Havas Germany for Getty Images 
“History Repeats” by Havas Germany for Getty Images
Tell us about ‘History Repeats’ and the concept behind this project for Getty Images.
Heroism, emancipation, pride, injustice, racism, war – “history repeats itself” is not just a saying. And we’re proving it with a bold online and offline campaign that puts current, unaltered Getty Images pictures in juxtaposition with historical ones that match visually and thematically. This effectively links the past with our present in a startling way – all while elegantly referring to Getty Image’s historical archive.
Getty Images is known for being the world’s largest provider of daily and contemporary images but hardly anyone knows that Getty Images also offers an enormous historical image archive that goes back to the beginnings of photography. And that’s exactly what we wanted to change in a stunning way with this campaign.
What was the photo/parallel that impacted you the most?
Definitely the Covid-19 vs. Spanish flu motif. The campaign was created during the first German Covid-19 lockdown.
“Heroism, emancipation, pride, injustice, racism, war – “history repeats itself” is not just a saying.”
That’s why this motif was like an eye-opener to us. Because we realised we were not the first to suffer this situation. This is exactly how people felt more than 100 years ago. And these people managed to defeat the pandemic. So will we. That was absolutely amazing.
Tell us about this campaign’s media, and how it was distributed?
The motifs were initially published on Getty Images’ national and international social media channels. In addition, there were newspaper ads, billboards and indoor posters.
This isn’t the first project for Getty Images. Why are Havas Germany and the brand such good partners?
Getty Images is a company that places great value on excellent creation and meaningful ideas. With the “Repicturing Homeless” campaign, Havas Germany was already able to prove that we can maintain this standard. This basic trust has certainly helped to make the renewed collaboration possible – and together with the people responsible at Getty Images we were once again able to bring an impactful campaign to life. We are very grateful for this opportunity.