Enter the German fishing market as a German brand. Not as a translated one.
Germany is Europe's biggest tackle market — and German anglers notice within seconds when a brand isn't local. We're a Berlin team of anglers who know the retailers, the trade shows, and which creators work and which are burnt. You keep your home market. We run the German one.
Europe's largest fishing-tackle market sits next door.
1.8M
valid fishing licences in Germany (2024)
6.64M
Germans went fishing at least once in 2021
up to 30%
of EU tackle retail value sits in Germany (est.)
€80.6bn
online goods revenue in Germany in 2024
Add roughly 200,000–350,000 active anglers in Austria and 100,000+ in Switzerland, and DACH becomes one of Europe’s densest angling markets.
Why foreign brands stall in Germany
German anglers notice when a brand isn't German. And they move on.
Translated content feels translated.
A campaign shot at home and subtitled doesn't read as German — no matter how good the translation or the AI voice-over is. A German angler on the Rhine does. People feel the difference before they can explain it.
One newsletter for all of Europe.
The same deals, translated and sent to every country. In the German shops we run, email and automations typically bring in 20–30% of revenue. Most foreign shops we look at are stuck in single digits in Germany — with customers they already paid for.
The wrong face costs you the scene.
Picking the creator with the most followers is the classic mistake. Some have held up ten different brands in five years — and every German angler knows it. From abroad you can't see who's trusted and who's burnt.
One marketplace listing can lose you every dealer.
If a German retailer googles your reel and finds it on a marketplace at his wholesale price, the conversation is over. Distribution, pricing and channels work differently here — and mistakes are remembered for years.
What you can't google
We know how the German fishing market actually works.
Not from a market report. From years inside it — as anglers, as a former tackle-brand team, and as the agency behind German brands, shops and trade shows.
Creators
We know who works — and who's burnt.
We know the German anglers personally: who is credible in which discipline, who's tied to which brand, and who will say anything for a fee. You get the right faces — including the strong ones just below the big names who aren't signed yet.
Retail & trade shows
We know the shops, the distributors and the shows.
Which retailers matter, how German dealers think about pricing and online channels, and which shows you need to be at — several of the organisers are our clients. Whether you sell via retail, your own shop or both, we build demand without burning a channel.
The German angler
We know how Germans fish, talk and buy.
The tone that works here, the waters people recognise, what makes them trust a shop — and why Austria is not just "more Germany". It shapes every ad, every email and every page we make for you.
Content, performance, email and tech under one roof in Berlin — with anglers in the seats where it matters. If something already works for you, like Google, it stays where it is. We build what's missing.
1 · We look at your German numbers
Revenue, conversion and email share for Germany only — not blended with your other markets. You see where you stand against what we see in German shops, and where the biggest gap is.
2 · We meet in person
At your place or in our Berlin office. We work with few brands and for years, so both sides should know who they're dealing with before anything is signed.
3 · One plan, one team, one number
German content with German anglers, creators from our network, Meta and TikTok for DACH, German email flows — measured on German revenue and reported in your own attribution, every week.
Results, not claims
What we've built in this market. Not a brochure.
Two of these are German brands we run, one is a foreign brand we scaled across Europe. Together with 38 German brands and shops we've seen from the inside — that's where the market knowledge comes from.
25× ROAS
Carplounge Tackle · Own shop, Europe
Every advertising euro brought back €25 in revenue — sustained over weeks, with Meta, Google and email working together.
+120% revenue
Headbanger · Swedish brand selling into EU & USA
In the first two months of working together, compared with the previous year — monthly revenue normally seen only in peak season.
2× the business
Carp Expo · Retail + end customers
Twice the visitors at the last edition — and a venue twice the size to hold them. "Ad Social made the business scalable again." — Marcus Sippel-May, organiser.
And the ones we can't name: we're currently building the German market for foreign brands who'd rather their competitors didn't read about it. In a call, we'll show you the one closest to your situation.
Not an agency that also does Germany. A German team that fishes.
Any agency can translate your ads. Very few can make your brand feel German to a German angler — because that takes people who are both.
We're German. And we're anglers.
Berlin team, ten people, founder on the bank since childhood. What sounds German and what sounds translated — we don't need a focus group for that.
38 German fishing brands from the inside
Pre-orders, trade shows, seasonality, retailer politics — you don't have to explain the German market to us. That saves you the first six months.
One brand per category. For years, not months.
We don't run two competing brands in the same category in Germany — our best ideas can only go to one of them. We prefer a base fee plus a share of the German revenue we build, so we only win when you do.
The German rules, handled
Payment mix, trust signals, OSS VAT, LUCID, GPSR, legal texts — we know what a German shop needs before it goes live, and we bring in the right partners for the rest.
Founder & angler — Thilo Schulze
"I helped build the German market for a UK brand once. Now I do it from the other side."
At 18 I joined Nash Tackle's marketing team in Essex — camera in hand, working with the UK team on the German market. Then I built Nax Stream — the stream for carp anglers — and sold it after five years. Since then: 38 fishing brands in six countries, from Rapala and Daiwa to Zeck Fishing. I've sat on your side of the table — and I know exactly what it takes for a foreign brand to feel German to a German angler.
We take on one brand per discipline in the German-speaking market. Whoever starts first keeps the head start — your competitor won't get the same German build.
Then we should talk
You run the company
Owner-led, short lines, fast decisions.
Your home market works
An established brand, distributor or shop with seven-figure revenue, proven where you are — we build Germany, we don't fix the basics.
You can ship to Germany
Or you're ready to set it up. Demand without delivery is just noise.
You want Germany for years
Not for one season. A market build pays back over years, not weeks.
Then better not
No proven product yet
We build Germany for brands that already sell at home. If you're still pre-launch, get that right first.
"Let's just test Germany for a month"
Market entry doesn't work in a month. Others will tell you it does.
No advertising budget
Without reach in Germany, nothing can be tested properly.
No one to look after German customers
We can show you the tools that make it easy — but someone on your side needs to own it.
More ticks than crosses?
Then fill in the form below. If not, you've just saved yourself a call — and probably a failed market entry.
YOUR NEXT MARKET STARTS HERE
Find out what it will take to win Germany.
Tell us where your brand stands. Thilo will get back to you personally within one working day to discuss whether Germany fits — and what the next step should be.
No sales pressure. One brand per discipline in DACH.
Before you have to ask
What you want to know about Germany.
Do we need a German company?
No. You need OSS VAT registration, LUCID packaging registration and a German-language legal notice — we walk you through it and bring in the right partners for tax and legal. What you don't need is a German entity, a German warehouse or a German bank account to start.
We already sell to Germany via Google — why change anything?
You don't. Google stays where it is. We add what Google can't: a German brand presence, German content with German anglers, German email flows — the things that turn a shop people find into a brand people choose.
Who handles German customer service?
That stays with you — but it's easier than most brands expect. We show you the tools and setups that let a small team answer German customers in German, and what German buyers expect in terms of response time, returns and tone. If nothing is in place yet, we sort that out together before the first ads go live.
Will this upset our German retailers?
No — if it's built properly. We know German channel conflict from both sides. We set up pricing, offers and campaigns so your D2C grows without attacking the retailers you need on the shelf.
How fast will we see German sales?
For some brands the first German sales came within weeks — we can't promise that, because every brand starts from a different place. What we do promise: you see German revenue and what a German customer costs you every week, in your own numbers. Building a market takes seasons, not weeks — that's why we only work long-term.
What does it cost?
We prefer a monthly base fee plus a share of the German revenue we build — so both sides pull in the same direction. The exact setup depends on your starting point and what's missing. Your advertising budget goes directly from your own accounts to the platforms, not through us. Concrete numbers once we know your situation.
