Heimat: The most powerful Hornbach commercial so far?

Heimat’s commercials for European home improvement superstore chain, Hornbach, have been making the chain stand out for three decades with their remarkable, evocative visual metaphors for the joy of D-I-Y. Now the partners have set their sights on a new emotion, one that the pandemic has brought to the fore – the feeling that a D-I-Y task seems impossibly huge – until you do it.

This year’s visual metaphor is perhaps the most striking yet…

..and an engaging dose of wit adds to the commercial’s appeal. A fly is attacking the D-I-Y-er as he also deals with the fiddly nature of the project.

“That sense of achievement after having created something with your own hands is enduring and emboldens people to take on further challenges,” stated Thomas Schnaitmann, marketing manager, Hornbach.

“The positive power that is generated by completing a project has never been as valuable as it is right now.”

The time and effort that went into the production of the commercial can be seen in all its details. It was directed by Tom Kuntz, whose vast array of awarded commercials includes The Man Your Man Could Smell Like for Old Spice and Heineken, The Chase. DOP was Hoyte van Hoytema, whose CV already includes the Bond film, Spectre, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Dunkirk, and most recently, Tenet. Digital post-production is by Untold from London, music by 2WEI. The entire production process was held together by TPF under the leadership of the producer, Michael Duttenhöfer.

“Organising a mammoth project of this kind during the coronavirus pandemic is definitely on a par with the pluckiness of our DIY hero,’ explained Heimat, founder Guido Heffels.

“Arranging coronavirus tests for everyone involved in the shoot, having reduced personnel on the set, taking everyone’s temperature, constantly making fine adjustments from a distance. But then anything is possible when you actually do it – with courage and a level head.”

The campaign film is running online and on TV in Germany and Austria from September 18, and then in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Luxembourg and Netherlands. It is supported with display and social digitally, plus POS, radio and posters.