Umbrella salesmen do a very brisk business in Halle (Saale), as the Germany city regularly tops the polls as Europe's wettest city. Good weather for umbrella salesmen used to mean bad weather for those in the convertible car rental business, until now.
In a bid to promote rentals of their convertible car fleet, German car rental firm Sixt decided to bring some much needed sunshine to the soggy citizens of Halle. Using technology pioneered at the Beijing Olympics, the ever present rain clouds were dispersed and Halle's motorists donned their shades and took to the streets in rented cabriolets.
In a technique called 'cloud seeding', silver iodide can be released into cloud formations and cause the clouds to increase precipitation and therefore quickly dissipate. This technique is widely practised to clear foggy skies surrounding airports.
Sixt has a strong track record of innovative campaigns, animated URL bars and ASCII art on google searches. Continuing their style of humorous creatives, this short film presents Lieutenant Colonel Sandro Wolf of Fighter Bomber Wing 37 as a man on a mission against the inclement weather. During July 2009, armed with his missiles of silver iodide, the Lieutenant took to the skies 109 times and dispatched any threatening rain clouds.
Sandro won many fans among the local residents who hailed him as a hero for and credit Sixt for their best July weather ever recorded. The unassuming Sandro is, as ever, philosophical about his work. "What Sixt has done in Halle is amazing," he muses while smoking a cigarette on the tarmac "and should definitely set and example for others. . . I am honoured to have been a part of it."
The full clip runs to 4m 29s, with a shorter edit available at 2m 48s. Filmed in German, the clip can be watched with English subtitles. As of January 2010, the clips have been viewed 36,500 times.