About me

CCO/Partner/Co-Founder @ Grabarz&Partner, Hamburg/Berlin

Ralf Heuel is a German Copywriter, Creative Director and entrepreneur. He is co-owner and Chief Creative Officer of Grabarz & Partner.

Ralf completed an apprenticeship in advertising, studied marketing communication at night while completing a trainee program with ex-GGK copywriter Burkhard Apholz during the day. After that Andreas Grabarz hired him as a junior copywriter for IKEA at the Swedish agency Brindfors. In 1993, Grabarz set up his own business in Hamburg with six employees and IKEA as founding client. At the age of 27, Heuel headed the creative department.

After its foundation, the agency won accounts such as Volkswagen, Porsche, Burger King, Indeed, Amazon Alexa and Lidl. Today, Grabarz & Partner employs around 300 people in Hamburg and Berlin and is one of the most awarded agencies in Europe and the world.

In 2015, Grabarz & Partner developed the project "Nazis against Nazis" for the Nazi dropout organization EXIT under Heuel's responsibility together with the agency GGH MullenLowe. The work won 12 gold awards at the Art Directors Club, 6 gold awards at the Cannes Lions and the Grand Prix at the Clio Awards. In the same year, Heuel was named "Creative Leader of the Year"; the agency Grabarz & Partner was named "Agency of the Year" and Heuel and his partners were named "Men and Women of the Year". In 2015, "The Big Won" report listed Heuel among the four best creative leaders in the world, while Grabarz & Partner was ranked third. Grabarz & Partner was named "Independent Agency of the Year" by the "Eurobest Festival of Creativity" in 2017. In 2018, he was one of the 20 most awarded Chief Creative Officers in the world according to "The Big Won", and Grabarz & Partner was one of the 15 most awarded agencies worldwide in the same year. In 2020, the leading ad magazine HORIZONT ranked Grabarz & Partner among the "10 top advertising agencies of the decade" in 2023 among the "Top 10 most creative German agencies of all time." In 2020, Cannes Lions named Grabarz & Partner one of the 10 "Cannes Lions Independent Agencies of the Decade".

Ralf has been selected for the jury at every important advertising festival on the planet, . CLIOs, D&AD, One Show, Eurobest, LIA or New York Festivals. He is one of the few Germans to have been elected to the Cannes Lions jury several times.

In July 2023, Grabarz & Partner sold the majority of its shares to the leading international communications holding company "Omnicom Group"; Ralf Heuel remains in his position like all other managing directors, and like him, all actively working partners continue to hold shares in the agency.

Ralf is a member of the German ADC, the British D&AD and the One Club/New York.

Work
Articles
Achievements
Activity

Ralf's achievements

Site Achievements

Top 25
Contributor:
Ralf has been a Contributor since 25th November 2015.

Invitex3 Contributor

Creativepool Annual

Listing of award wins in Creativepool's awards

Annual 2025

Top 100 Creative Leaders

Judging

Ralf Heuel has sat on the Creativepool Annual jury.

Annual 2023 Judge Copywriting

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