In 2009, German ad agency, Heimat, won a Titanium Silver Lion at Cannes for Hornbach with its 2008 House of Imagination campaign.
The agency let 12 international artists loose in an old empty apartment building in the middle of Berlin, to turn its standard rooms into amazing, bizarre, fantastic restaurant spaces to underscore the promise, “If you can imagine it, you can build it”.
More than 18,000 people turned up to the view the result, Hornbach’s sales went up by 30% and Heimat has been promoting D-I-Y passion ever since.
You’d think that Heimat’s ideas might be getting a little stale by now, but the latest campaign, Your project belongs only to you, is one of its most creative and compelling. At its core is the idea that in D-I-Y no passion is too wild. At home, you can do whatever you like, however you like to, completely overtaken by your desire for D-I-Y.
The 60 second commercial opens with the lines, “They say there’s no method to your madness…but who f***ing cares?” and continues to explore the emotions of the fetish of D-I-Y.
Heimat creative director, Guido Heffels, explained, “”We’ve spent the past few months taking a long, hard look at the ever-increasing constraints on people’s personal freedom. We’ve looked at social regulations and laws and also at the last bastion of liberty — one’s own four walls. A topic absolutely relevant to today.”
“The new campaign represents the very essence of Hornbach and DIY projects,” stated Thomas Schnaitmann, Hornbach head of marketing for Germany and international marketing communication. “It makes the viewer want to charge in and do things, to create something – and of course to express their own personality. But despite the seriousness of the subject matter, the distinctive Hornbach humour is never far away.”
The ad was made by British director, Ian Pons Jewell, and Berlin production company, Anorak. It will run across Europe, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Luxembourg, supported on radio, in print and OOH.
All social media content resulting from the campaign (#projektrituale) will be collected on a Tumblr blog.
Credits:
Agency: Heimat
Creative director: Guido Heffels
Art Directors: Felix Pfannmüller & Jared Leistner
Copywriter: Nicolas Blättry
Account director: Tim Holtköetter
Account manager: Franziska Falk
Production Company: Anorak
Director: Ian Pons Jewell
Client: Hornbach
Marketing directors: Thomas Schnaitmann & Julia Ziegelmann
