Best Creative Agencies in Hamburg (2026)

Introduction

Hamburg remains Germany’s advertising capital, and the nine creative agencies below are the independents and integrated idea shops doing its most visible work in 2026. They were chosen for recent campaigns, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the strength of their client lists.

The city’s agency scene shifted over the past two years. Thjnk joined Ogilvy’s network in February 2025 while keeping its own brand, and Grabarz & Partner now sits under Omnicom. Jung von Matt was named best agency at the ADC Awards in June 2026, ahead of HeimatTBWA and Scholz & Friends, and Loved Hamburg, part of the thjnk family, took the Grand Prix in ADC’s new Creative Impact category. Accounts keep moving too: BMW took its global creative business to McCann in October 2026, while HVV handed its creative account to Jung von Matt a month earlier.

Every agency here has an active Hamburg office in 2026. Network offices are covered on our advertising agencies page, and pure design and branding studios on their own pages. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on your brief, budget and how you like to work.

The best creative agencies in Hamburg

1. Jung von Matt

Independent · Hamburg · jvm.com

Jung von Matt describes itself as an independent creative company from Europe, and Hamburg is its largest base. Alongside the main Jung von Matt HAMBURG unit, the city hosts specialist units for brand identity, impact, sports, tech, music and the NERD team. It finished as the best agency at the ADC Awards 2026, with five of the festival’s top ten campaigns, including “Cora mietet” for Sixt, “Schwein gehabt” for Sparkasse and “Pixel Cam” for Google Pixel.

Other recent work includes Deutsche Telekom, adidas “Typical German”, EDEKA x PAYBACK and Hamburg Marketing’s “The Draw”. The account picture is mixed for 2026: HVV appointed the agency in September, while Euronics and BMW (lost to McCann in October) moved on. In September it folded Jung von Matt Creators into its new JvM Tech unit, so ask which unit will lead your work.

2. Philipp und Keuntje

Independent · Altona · puk.agency

Philipp und Keuntje, now branded PUK, has worked from Hamburg for more than 25 years and describes itself as a full-service agency for design and brand. Its head office is on Waterloohain in Altona, with further offices in Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Ingolstadt. The agency has a long record at Cannes and the Effies.

Current cases include “Monotony” for LinkedIn, “House of Toast” for Golden Toast and Payback work for Netto Marken-Discount. In October 2026 Astra ended a 27-year relationship with the agency and appointed a new lead agency after a pitch.

3. thjnk

Part of Ogilvy Group Germany (WPP) · Neustadt · thjnk.de

Thjnk was founded in 2012 and has been among Germany’s most awarded agencies since. WPP has owned it since 2017, and in February 2025 it entered a partnership with Ogilvy Group Germany that put it inside Ogilvy’s network while keeping thjnk as a separate brand. Its sister agency Loved Hamburg won the ADC 2026 Grand Prix in Creative Impact for FAQ YOU’s “Redesigning Aufklärung”.

The Hamburg office sits at Vorsetzen, near Baumwall, with further offices in Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Zurich and New York. Clients include IKEA, Audi, Douglas (won with Loved) and Bergader. Co-founder Armin Jochum has since left, and in September 2026 thjnk retained the enercity account in its first pitch under the new leadership team.

4. CarlNann

Independent, owner-managed · HafenCity · carlnann.com

CarlNann is an owner-managed brand agency on Am Sandtorkai in HafenCity. Its roots are in FCB Hamburg: Christoph Nann and Michael Carl bought the agency out of the Interpublic network in 2018 and have run it independently since. Nann remains creative chief and was among the creative leaders named in coverage of the ADC 2026 results.

The agency works on brand and campaign briefs for clients such as Kölln, which handed it business without a pitch shortly after the buyout. Both founders still run the agency, so clients deal directly with its owners.

5. Leagas Delaney Hamburg

Independent · Altona · leagasdelaney.de

Leagas Delaney Hamburg works from Große Elbstraße, on the Altona waterfront. It became lead agency for Leerdammer in February 2025 and for Lorenz Snacks in July 2025, and for Lorenz it built “Stromberg als Chief Erdnußlocken Officer”, a branded entertainment tie-in with the Stromberg film released in December 2025.

Other clients include BRITA, where the agency handled the BRITA LARQ iQ launch, and TARGOBANK, for which it built a campaign platform across TV, online video, social and point of sale. Its “Trash Metal Project” at Wacken for the BMZ’s #17Ziele reached around 85,000 festival-goers. The agency also holds a stake in the AI start-up Flux AI.

6. Saint Elmo’s

Independent, owner-managed · Neustadt · saint-elmos.com

Saint Elmo’s was founded in 2001 as a classic advertising agency and now offers integrated communication from brand and content to performance, media planning and AI consulting. It places itself among the top ten owner-managed agencies in Germany. The group’s Hamburg office is on Steinhöft in the Neustadt, and in July 2026 it hired Pedro Americo as creative director there.

Hamburg is creative lead agency for Proviant, and the group’s clients include LOTTO Hamburg, PENNY, WWF and Duravit. In September 2026 Saint Elmo’s became Borussia Dortmund’s creative agency after a pitch and launched the mockumentary “Buying Borussia”.

7. La Red

Independent · Sternschanze · la-red.de

La Red is a digital creative agency with its main office on Schulterblatt in the Schanze and a second team in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It works across digital communication, with much of its recent output built for social channels and brand communities.

Recent cases include “Roger G: Die Geschichte einer Sektmaus” and a music partnership with Zartmann for Rotkäppchen, social work for Eurowings and Lidl, a brand relaunch for Seeberger and “keinschlaflieder” for fritz-kola. For the city’s Sozialbehörde it made “600 Minuten Nachspielzeit”.

8. Überground

Independent · Hamburg · ueberground.com

Überground is a Hamburg creative collective founded by Jo Marie Farwick, formerly a creative managing director at Heimat Hamburg. It works with rotating teams of freelancers and partners, and the ADC named it Rookie Agency of the Year in 2017. In 2026 Farwick chaired the ADC’s Integrated jury in the Advertising category and sat on the new Creative Impact jury.

Clients have included Lidl, for Christmas campaigns such as “Kids Gone”, the newspaper taz, for which it made a campaign for independent journalism, an Eduscho brand relaunch, Amorelie, juhuAuto and Mondo Möbel. It is a good fit for brands that want a small senior team and a strong point of view.

9. gobasil

Independent · Hamburg · gobasil.com

Gobasil is a communication agency with offices in Hamburg and Hannover. Founder Eva Jung is one of the city’s better-known creative voices: she sat on an ADC jury in 2026 and appeared in the arte documentary series “Unhappy”.

The agency’s clients include SPIEGEL QC and Volkswagen Financial Services, along with non-profit and church work such as the presentation of the Bistum Osnabrück’s new motto. It suits organisations that need campaign thinking and design from one compact team.

What to look for in a Hamburg creative agency

Start with ownership. Hamburg has a rare mix of large independents such as Jung von Matt, owner-managed shops that grew out of networks (CarlNann is one), and agencies that kept their names after joining a group, as thjnk did with Ogilvy. Group backing brings media and production scale. Independents usually give clients faster decisions and more senior time.

Ask who leads the account and which unit does the work. Several agencies here run separate units for sport, tech or brand identity, and some changed leadership in 2026. The names in the pitch should be the names on the timesheet.

Look at the client base in context. Hamburg agencies serve the city’s media houses and large consumer brands, and many also work for public clients such as HVV, Hamburger Hochbahn or the Sozialbehörde. Agencies with public-sector experience are used to formal tenders and longer approval chains, which matters if your organisation works the same way.

Finally, look at how the agency runs the day-to-day: where files live, how feedback is collected and how approvals are tracked. Campaigns that span film, social and out-of-home generate many versions, and rounds of comments spread across email and shared drives slow everyone down. A single place where the client finds the latest work and leaves feedback makes a long relationship easier.

How Fabric helps creative agency teams

Fabric gives an agency one workspace for files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The agency setup follows how most of the agencies above work: one space per client, with briefs, scripts, assets, decks and call notes kept together.

Film edits, key visuals and large design files sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy files open without a full download. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. To pull references from past campaigns, similar search finds work with a similar composition, colour or subject.

For review, share a file or folder with the client as a commenter. Shared links work without sign-up. With annotations, clients leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame or an image and attach a comment to the drawing, and highlight text in scripts and PDFs. The team marks each comment completed as it is resolved, so a feedback round works like a checklist. There is more on this workflow under review and approval.

For final delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page, view-only and with optional download, and protected with a password. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and how long they spent with it, which helps with pitch decks. On Team plans, self-writing docs keep a page for each client up to date from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best creative agency in Hamburg?

There is no single answer, since the right agency depends on the brief. On 2026 recognition, Jung von Matt was named best agency at the ADC Awards in June 2026, and Loved Hamburg, part of the thjnk family, won the Grand Prix in the new Creative Impact category.

Is Jung von Matt still independent?

Yes. Jung von Matt describes itself as an independent creative company from Europe. Hamburg is home to its main agency and several specialist units, including Jung von Matt SPORTS, BRAND IDENTITY, IMPACT and TECH.

What happened to thjnk?

Thjnk has been owned by WPP since 2017, and in February 2025 it joined Ogilvy’s network through a partnership with Ogilvy Group Germany. It continues as its own brand, with its Hamburg office at Vorsetzen.

Where are Grabarz & Partner, Scholz & Friends and the network agencies?

Network offices and advertising specialists, including Grabarz & Partner (now part of Omnicom), Scholz & Friends, Serviceplan, Ogilvy and VML, are covered in our list of the best advertising agencies in Hamburg.

Do Hamburg creative agencies work in English?

Most of the larger agencies here run international accounts and work in English as well as German. Thjnk has an office in New York, and Jung von Matt has units in London, Los Angeles and Asia, so English-language briefs are routine for them. Smaller independents vary, so ask at the first meeting.

Related lists

Creative agencies in other cities: Berlin · London · New York · Los Angeles · Toronto

More in Hamburg: Advertising agencies · Design agencies · Branding agencies · Marketing agencies · Social media agencies · Video production

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for agencies · Best client portal tools