The thieves of the Louvre used the furniture to lift in their hall. Now the company that makes it hopes to get money.

German businessman Alexander Böcker was reading the news with his wife last Sunday when he told her about Robbery at the Louvre in Paris.

“My wife said, ‘Yeah, look at this: Someone broke into a car. There’s a robbery going on!'” he recalled in an interview with CBS News.

At the same time, his wife, Julia Scharwatz, noticed something familiar: The lift used in the robbery looked like the person doing it.

“If you know the product, you can quickly identify that it was your product,” said Böcker on Friday. “It was clear to us that this was a suspicious move, and they used our device.”

The machine was Böcker Agilo, a lift that can be used in construction or for lifting furniture in houses with high style windows.

It is one of Böcker’s company machines – called Böcker – Made. And as more details of the robbery emerged – especially that no one was hurt – böcker and Scharwatz, who works alongside her husband as the head of a marketing company, began to receive messages from colleagues and employees asking: “Can’t we do something about it?”

The next day, brainstorming began as they tried to think of new ways to advertise the heist, which saw the thieves run through It is estimated at $102 million between polished. The robbers used the Böcker Lift to reach the balcony of the second one where they found the louvres by cutting through the window, and officials say they got in in just four minutes.

One suggested slogan was: “‘Even crime experts use the best machines,’ something like that,” said Böcker.

But it was Scharwatz who had the winning mentality – focusing on the speed of the Böcker machines.

“We bought a picture, were we deciding whether to do it or not? And I said, ‘Yeah, I hope everyone gets a sense of humor.’ You know, usually, Germans are not very famous for having a sense of humor,” said Böcker.

He said he felt it was “a very thin thread,” but because no one was hurt, “we said: ‘Let’s do it.'”

The final ad, published on social media, shows a photo of the Böcker machine placed outside the Louvre after the robbery.

“If you hurry,” said the tagne line. That is followed by information about the product: “The Böcker Agilo carries your treasures up to 400 kg at 42 m / min – introducing a funny car on the 230 electric motor.”

Response to the campaign has been mixed. Many found it funny, and some who worked in sales and marketing reached out to the company calling it Smart.

It also received a lot of attention. Posts on social media sites typically draw 15,000-20,000 views per post, Böcker said, but this one gets more than 1.3 million views on Instagram and Facebook.

“So, yes, it’s a rare event for us,” said Böcker.

That the public, however, has not translated into sales, at least not yet.

“The general customer base, especially in Europe, they know the product very well. We are (a) market leader in that category,” said Böcker. “Maybe now, even in other countries where this product is not well known or not so well known, maybe there is interest.”

Böcker wanted to make it clear, however, that he and the Company or his group supported the looting of the Louvre.

“We are against us, we are against this, criminal activities, and we are also a large company. 620 employees in Germany. Everything is produced in Germany, and everything is safe,” he said and safely, “he also said. “It was a global event that happened with one of our machines, and we tried to use it. And we really don’t want … anybody to get bad feelings about that. And if so, we apologize for that.”