Gerety Awards Celebrates Berlin Winners and Asks what Makes Advertising Feel Authentic

Nov. 11, 2026

The Gerety Awards brought Berlin’s creative community together at Tracks & Fields for an evening celebrating the work recognised at the 2026 awards. The Gerety Live event opened with a drinks reception, followed by a panel discussion titled “Authenticity Is the New Luxury: Can Brands Still Manufacture Realness?”

Among the winners celebrated on the night were BBDO Germany, Scholz & Friends and HEIMAT. The reception gave the teams behind this year’s winning work a chance to celebrate with their colleagues, catch up with Gerety judges and meet others from across Berlin’s creative community.

Shawn Thomson of YKONE moderated the discussion with Silke Lakeit (Tinder), Odile Breffa (Innocean Berlin), Christian Mix-Linzer (Tracks & Fields), Alkisti Stolp (McCann Germany) and Katja Hentschel (photographer and creator).

“Please stop writing ‘authentic’ in the brief,” said Alkisti Stolp. Her challenge raised a practical question for creative teams. What direction does the word actually give them? Katja Hentschel made the case for giving creators room to interpret a brief and trusting what they bring back.

The panel also discussed what audiences expect from brands using AI-generated content. 

Silke Lakeit said:

“Audiences aren’t naive about AI content, they’ve just got very good at spotting it. What they won’t forgive is being lied to."

 

Odile Breffa emphasised the role of human judgement in developing ideas that resonate with audiences and suggested that AI could give creatives more room to exercise it.

Berlin was one of the stops in the 2026 Gerety Live series, which brings winners, judges and industry friends together to celebrate the work and continue the conversation beyond the jury room.