Mural Painting for Public Campaigns: Berlin Senate Transforms School Toilets
Mural Painting for Public Campaigns: Berlin Senate Transforms School Toilets
Betty Vanguard
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When you think about government campaigns, school toilets probably aren't the first canvas that comes to mind. Yet the Berlin Senate proved that mural painting can happen anywhere – even in the most unexpected spaces – to create authentic connections with young audiences. Their "Berlin macht Schule" campaign turned ordinary school bathrooms into vibrant storytelling spaces, demonstrating how institutions can use mural painting to reach their target demographic where they naturally spend time.
The Berlin Senate commissioned mural painting in four school bathrooms across two Berlin high schools as part of their teacher recruitment campaign. Artwork by Vidam.
The challenge: reaching Gen Z where traditional advertising fails
The Berlin Senate faced a pressing challenge: inspiring teenagers and young adults to pursue teaching careers in a city experiencing a severe teacher shortage. Traditional recruitment campaigns – posters, TV spots, career fairs – weren't cutting through to a generation that scrolls past advertisements and questions institutional messaging.
The solution? Mural painting in an unconventional location that students couldn't ignore: school toilets.
Why mural painting works for public campaigns
Unlike digital ads that can be blocked or scrolled past, mural painting creates a physical presence that demands attention and invites interaction. For the Berlin Senate's campaign, this approach offered several distinct advantages:
Captive audience engagement: Students visit school bathrooms multiple times daily, creating repeated exposure to the campaign message without feeling intrusive.
Authenticity through artistry: By commissioning professional mural artists rather than simply hanging posters, the campaign demonstrated genuine investment in student spaces.
Social media amplification: Vibrant mural painting naturally encourages photo-taking and sharing, extending the campaign's reach beyond the physical space.
Community involvement: Letting students choose their preferred artists gave them ownership of the project from the start.
Artist Júlia Mota Albuquerque bringing her signature illustration style to life on school bathroom stalls
The project: matching artists with mission
When Connex Berlin approached Basa Studio to find artists for this unique mural painting project, the brief was clear but challenging: transform four bathrooms across two Berlin high schools in Neukölln into engaging spaces that would make students consider teaching as a career path. The timeframe was tight – everything needed to be completed by May 31 to coincide with the broader campaign launch.
Basa Studio curated a selection of four talented mural painters whose styles could resonate with teenage audiences. The shortlist was presented to the students themselves, who selected one female and one male artist to each paint two bathrooms. This democratic approach ensured the mural painting would reflect what students actually wanted to see in their spaces.
The students chose Vidam and Júlia Mota Albuquerque – two artists whose work couldn't be more perfect for the project.
Vidam's colorful, surrealistic style
Júlia's inclusive, community-focused work
Meet the artists behind the mural painting
Vidam, a visual artist and illustrator based in Berlin, brings joy and surrealism to every surface he touches. His name means "happy" in Hungarian, and that energy radiates through his mural painting. Known for creating crazy characters and funny scenes filled with color and pop surrealistic elements, Vidam's work transforms ordinary spaces into playful environments.
Júlia Mota Albuquerque, originally from Brazil and now a full-time artist in Berlin, specializes in mural painting that celebrates diversity, inclusion, and togetherness. For Júlia, this project held special significance – the schools were located in Neukölln where she lives, and she was able to share the experience with her mother, who was visiting from Brazil.
As Júlia shared on her Instagram:
"This project was special for many reasons. The first is that it was in two schools. I always had an affinity with schools and it was great to be back in two different ones after many years... The second is that I could share it with my mom, who was here in Berlin visiting and stayed for two weeks painting inside a toilet with me. It was great to be able to share my work with her and she was a great and very needed assistant."
From concept to execution: the creative process
Successful mural painting for campaigns requires strategic thinking and collaborative development. Before any paintbrush touched a wall, both artists participated in two collaborative calls with the client and Connex Berlin to develop their concepts. While the artists maintained creative freedom to work in their signature styles, they needed to incorporate specific campaign elements:
The main tagline "Berlin macht Schule" (Berlin makes school)
A QR code linking to the campaign website
Visual storytelling connecting teaching, learning, Berlin city life, and having a good time
Each artist created their own world within the school bathroom space, developing unique characters, symbols, and visual narratives that made teaching feel exciting and accessible.
The unique challenge of bathroom mural painting
Mural painting in school toilets presented distinct technical challenges. Unlike flat walls or building facades, school bathrooms feature multiple surfaces at different angles, tiled walls with varying textures, bathroom stall doors, and corners that interrupt clean canvas space.
Both Vidam and Júlia leveraged their professional experience to turn these obstacles into opportunities. Rather than fighting against the architecture, they incorporated the bathroom elements into their designs, making the space feel intentionally transformed rather than simply decorated.
The genius of the Berlin Senate campaign lies in the strategic choice of location. School bathrooms are liminal spaces – places where students gather informally and engage in conversations away from adult supervision. By placing campaign messaging in these intimate environments through mural painting, the Senate created opportunities for organic discovery and peer-to-peer discussion.
This approach aligns with contemporary marketing wisdom about meeting audiences where they are. Just as brands have learned that authentic engagement happens in unexpected places, public institutions are discovering that mural painting in unconventional locations can achieve what traditional advertising cannot.
Strategic mural painting incorporates campaign elements like QR codes naturally within the artistic composition
The production timeline: one month, four bathrooms
The entire mural painting project was executed within the month of May. Each artist tackled one bathroom at the first school, then completed one bathroom each at the second school. Throughout the month, Connex Berlin documented the mural painting process with cameras, capturing behind-the-scenes footage for social media content and broader campaign materials.
This content strategy transformed the mural painting itself into a campaign asset, showing students the creative process and the real artists behind the work.
Beyond decoration: purpose-driven mural painting
What made this project unique wasn't just the mural painting itself, but the purpose behind it. The Berlin Senate wasn't promoting a product or building brand awareness for commercial gain. Instead, they were addressing a genuine societal need – attracting more qualified teachers to Berlin schools.
This purpose-driven approach resonated with both artists, who could authentically invest themselves in work that contributes to their community. When artists believe in the mission behind their mural painting, that authenticity shows in the final work.
For brands and institutions considering mural painting campaigns, this alignment between artist values and campaign purpose should be a primary consideration. The most successful collaborations happen when visual artists can genuinely support the message they're helping to communicate.
MACH MATHE ZU DEINEM STYLE" (Make Math Your Style) - Vidam's dynamic lettering and vibrant color palette turn everyday school subjects into exciting visual stories.
The completed mural painting creates an immersive environment that students encounter multiple times daily.
One of the most innovative aspects of this campaign was giving students direct input into which artists would transform their spaces. This democratic approach to mural painting selection offers multiple benefits:
Increased buy-in: Students feel ownership over art they helped select, making them more likely to appreciate and protect the finished mural painting.
Authenticity: The campaign demonstrates genuine respect for student preferences rather than imposing adult ideas of what's "cool" or relevant.
Risk mitigation: By letting the target audience choose, organizations reduce the risk of commissioning mural painting that misses the mark culturally or aesthetically.
This participatory model could be applied to mural painting projects across sectors – imagine office redesigns where employees vote on artists, or retail spaces where customers influence the visual direction.
Looking ahead, Mizter Rad, a podcaster and expert on what the world could look like in the next 5 decades, envisions a future where retail spaces become even more dynamic:
"We may have retail spaces where customers influence the visual direction of the stores. With new technologies, walls and surfaces become digital canvases that can change with the moods, weather, times, but also personalized to individuals or groups of people. This evolution from static mural painting to responsive digital surfaces represents the next frontier in experiential marketing."
Lessons for brands: what mural painting can achieve
The Berlin Senate project offers valuable lessons for marketing and brand managers considering mural painting:
Go where your audience already is: Rather than trying to drag teenagers to career fairs, the campaign brought the message to spaces they already occupy daily.
Invest in authentic artistry: Professional mural painting by recognized artists signals respect for your audience and demonstrates genuine commitment.
Embrace unconventional spaces: The most memorable campaigns happen in unexpected locations. Don't limit mural painting to obvious choices like building facades.
Involve your audience: Giving stakeholders input into artist selection creates ownership and increases engagement with the final mural painting.
Think beyond immediate ROI: Mural painting creates lasting physical assets that continue working long after installation, making the cost-per-impression extremely favorable over time.
Purpose matters: When mural painting serves a genuine mission rather than pure commercial interest, both artists and audiences respond more authentically.
Júlia's mural painting celebrates diversity in education with messages like "STUDIER LEHRAMT IN BERLIN" (Study Teaching in Berlin) and "BILDUNG BRAUCHT VORBILDER" (Education Needs Role Models), depicting students from varied backgrounds
Why artist-brand alignment matters
The collaboration between Vidam, Júlia Mota Albuquerque, and the Berlin Senate succeeded because of strong alignment between artistic practice and campaign purpose. Vidam's joyful, colorful approach made teaching feel fun and approachable. Júlia's focus on diversity, inclusion, and togetherness reflected the values that Berlin's schools need to embody.
When evaluating artists for mural painting projects, look beyond technical skill to consider whether their existing themes align with your campaign message, whether their aesthetic resonates with your target audience, and whether they can authentically support what you're trying to communicate.
From school toilets to any space: the future of mural painting
The Berlin Senate project demonstrates that mural painting can transform any space into a communication platform. If school bathrooms can become canvases for inspiring future teachers, then truly no location is off-limits for brands and institutions ready to think creatively.
Whether you're a government agency addressing social challenges, a corporation looking to revitalize office spaces, a supermarket wanting to attract more customers, or a brand seeking authentic street-level engagement, mural painting offers a powerful tool for creating memorable experiences that traditional advertising simply cannot match.
The key is finding artists who can translate your message into visual storytelling that respects your audience, serves your purpose, and transforms ordinary spaces into extraordinary experiences. That's where the magic of mural painting truly lives – not just in the paint on the walls, but in the conversations, connections, and inspiration that unfolds in front of it.
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