What does Will Arnett pointing at dogs and Tom Hanks wearing cat ears have to do with good PR?

By Oliver Fischer

For as long as I can remember, everybody I know has watched ”Wetten, dass..?“, the biggest German-language game show / talk show / Saturday evening entertainment. If you’ve never heard of ”Wetten, dass..?“ – which means something like “Wanna bet..?” – chances are you haven't lived in the DACH area in the past 30 years, and didn’t see Will Arnett's interview on Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks ago.

After that interview, I realised for the first time that the show might actually be quite unusual for people who didn't grow up with it, and weren’t used to seeing a bunch of guys trying to change tires on a driving car, or a man undressing his wife with an excavator shovel (unfortunately, there’s no video available of this, but it somehow got stuck in my mind…). It’s true, the show is far from as good as it was during its peak in the early 90s (as is German television on the whole), and it seems that the weirdness and inappropriate moments have increased a good deal over the years, but for me, it is still the show that allowed me to stay up longer on Saturday nights.

To be honest, I was also rather baffled, because it was quite obvious that nobody had briefed Will Arnett. In our profession, we often have IT executives coming to Germany for press events and one key task for us is to provide excessive briefings to avoid possible hiccups. And here we have big Hollywood stars with no briefing whatsoever? Well, if that was the case, then we all can learn a lot from Will Arnett’s experience (and Tom Hanks’ before him):

1. If you want to promote your project on German television, expect people to speak German! Germans are normally quite good with speaking English, since we learn it early, but what do you expect when you go on national German television? Of course the presenter is going to speak German, and of course you will need a translator
2. Know what kind of event you are visiting! If you go on a press lunch, you should be willing to eat. If you go to a German beer fest, you should be willing to drink beer. And if you are going on a show that revolves around betting and wagers, you are likely going to be asked to bet on something. Indeed, there have been actors that have had to box against the current light heavyweight champion because of a lost bet, so don’t complain if they make you wear a silly hat
3. The internet is an amazing invention that provides us with copious amounts of information and funny video clips – so use it! “Wetten, dass..?” has been around for the last 33 years and is probably the most popular German game show. Amongst its international guests were people like Michael Jackson, Elton John and Robbie Williams. Also, as stated before, the core concept of the show is that Germans do really unusual stuff in front of a camera. So just Google it (or have someone Google it for you) and you will find loads and loads of videos that give you an idea of what to expect
4. Know who you will meet! “…This 90 year old former German soccer player…” That’s Horst Eckel you are talking about, one of the guys who made the Miracle of Bern happen. Show some respect, man!

So, all questions about the show’s recent quality (which are completely justified) drop aside, the big lesson to take from this is: if you come to Germany to promote something, or to do PR, ask someone to explain the basics to you, or you won’t know – to quote Mr. Arnett – “what the **** is happening”!