Heimat Berlin has been selling the dream of D-I-Y with a string of captivating surreal fantasy ads for a very long time.

The ads, that are all about the feeling, have always stood out against the blokey, product heavy fact ads competing with them for attention.

Their quirkiness and hyperbole, each an epic fantasy, have made them famous – not only among awards jurors but also with everyday people.

“We can now send out a clear signal – Germans’ surprisingly marked reluctance to consume in November 2015 did not continue at our DIY stores in the fourth quarter,” Albrecht Hornbach, Chairman of the Board of Management of Hornbach Management, said in the January 2016 financial statement. Sales grew 5.1% in 2015/16. 7.6%, the year before.

Heimat’s newest ad for Hornach features a naked bloke who dives off a cliff and slides to the bottom – a metaphor for discovering pleasure through pain of confronting nature, perhaps. The tagline, You’re Alive. Do You Remember? clinches the deal for D-I-Y via Hornbach.

The ad was filmed almost entirely in camera after a week-long set build.

Credits:

Agency: Heimat Berlin
Executive creative director: Guido Heffels
Agency producer: Kirsten Heffels
Copywriter: Marlon Fischer
Account director: Tim Holtköetter

Production Company: Partizan
Director: Tom Noakes
Executive producer: Moritz Merkel
Producer: Swenja Babucke
DoP: Antonio Paladino
Production designer: Fiona Crombie
Editor: Nils Landmark
Composer: Thomas Berlin
VFX: TED & FLO