The encyclopedia · People & Management · People decision · 2025
Brax's five-year couple bet on Schweinsteiger and Ivanović ended with separation reports
Brax booked Schweinsteiger and Ivanović as its faces until 2027; days after separation reports it cut the deal and scrapped the already-shot campaign.
Brax · 2025-06-12
What happened
Brax, the Herford-based fashion house, had built its brand rejuvenation on one image: Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 2014 World Cup winner, and Ana Ivanović, the former world No. 1, staged together as a couple. Signed in summer 2019 with the first collection in early 2020, extended in 2022 to run until 2027, the pair were the faces meant to reach men and women at once — CEO Stefan Brandmann called them a 'perfect match'.
In mid-June 2025 German media reported that the couple had separated; their representatives did not comment. On June 12, Brax announced the premature end of the partnership. Managing director Marc Freyberg was explicit: 'The use of our brand faces as a couple is no longer possible for us due to current press reports.' The autumn/winter 2025 campaign had already been produced, but it would not be used — in Freyberg's words, the basis for the campaign idea no longer existed.
The deal had more than two years left to run and a finished season of imagery went with it. Artist manager Markus Krampe called it a 'Totalschaden' — a total loss: companies book the two as a pair, and once the image of the happily intact family is gone there is nothing left to salvage. Brandmann said he regretted the development and wished the family strength for their 'personally difficult situation'.
Why it happened
- Brax had not signed two athletes but one story — a sporting supercouple presented as happily together; the moment separation was reported, the thing it actually bought ceased to exist
- A campaign that cannot run costs the same as one never shot: autumn/winter 2025 was already produced and was shelved because the couple was the creative idea itself
- The brand did not wait for confirmation — the couple's representatives stayed silent, but the reports alone destroyed the credibility the ads were built on
The lesson
Brax built its relaunch on Schweinsteiger and Ivanović as a couple and lost both faces the week the marriage made headlines. When you buy a story, the story can break.
Aftermath
Brax lost the faces of its rejuvenation strategy more than two years before the contract ran out, plus one fully produced season of campaign imagery. Industry manager Markus Krampe noted that ambassador contracts typically carry exit clauses for a separation — the brand had protected itself legally, but the investment in the couple itself could not be recovered. The couple's representatives did not comment on the reports.
Sources
- FashionUnited: Brax beendet Zusammenarbeit mit Ana Ivanović und Bastian Schweinsteiger
- Der Spiegel: Schweinsteiger und Ivanović — Modefirma Brax beendet Zusammenarbeit
- RTL: Brax beendet Zusammenarbeit mit Schweinsteiger und Ivanović — 'Totalschaden'
- Merkur: Trennungsgerüchte um Schweinsteiger — Deutsche Modefirma beendet Kooperation
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