BRIEF
Before we delve into the campaign, let’s take a minute to understand the story of Habitat and what led them to bring this campaign to life. Founded in 1964, Habitat wanted to bring a new European way to shop for contemporary homeware to London. After changing hands throughout the years, in 2024 they gathered their in-house design studio team and a cohort of guest designers to bring back the classics from their homeware ranges throughout the years, with a modern twist.
Coming into their 60th year of business was the perfect time for Habitat to display the new “Love design, Love Habitat” range. The brief for this campaign was to bring to life the brand’s belief in the power of design and hero the pieces in a way that is accessible to everyone, no matter their budget, style, or the place they call home.
EXECUTION
The concept, introduced by New Commercial Arts (NCA), offers a groundbreaking twist on a traditional mural installation. Tasked with recreating the products at a giant scale and installing them onto high impact mural sites, Grand Visual worked with NCA and Habitat to identify which products would best suit this innovative activation, ensuring that neither the design nor the execution would need to be compromised to bring the pieces to life.
The final mural collection featured bold, iconic, and vibrant pieces, all over 3 meters in height and finished immaculately to resemble the original pieces. Since two of the pieces were statement lamps from the collection, we seized the opportunity to bring these sites to life at night by integrating LED lighting into the giant lamp shades to illuminate the street and mural walls after sunset. This added a charming ambiance to the streets and extended Habitat’s campaign impact into the evening.
Whilst the execution and realism of the 3D builds was important to the campaign, the scale and placement of the mural sites was integral to the campaign’s visibility and impact. When site scoping, there were several key considerations that fed into the final site selection:
- Special build suitability: the sites needed to be special build approved by landlords and large enough to ensure wide viewing angles of the products and the murals. We also needed 2x sites with access to power for the lamps.
- Footfall: all sites required high footfall to ensure maximum visibility and impact.
- Target Audience: Grand Visual worked closely with Talon to ensure the sites were strategically located to reach the client’s target audience, prioritising a national presence with two sites in London, one in Birmingham, and one in Manchester.
The production techniques for each piece of furniture was meticulous and personalised to each product to ensure maximum realism. We employed a combination of innovative material and structural techniques to accurately replicate the look and feel of glass, fabrics, ceramics, and even transparent lamp shades on a grand scale. This intricate craftsmanship was complemented by the brilliant minimal hand-painted elements designed by New Commercial Arts (NCA). The overall design elevated the murals without distracting from the product, maintaining clear branding and minimal messaging to keep the focus precisely where it needed to be.
RESULTS (Confidential)
This campaign garnered widespread attention, captivating both passersby and media alike. It gained traction through online media outlets (see supporting evidence) and social media, where many applauded the team for their creativity.
The results speak for themselves:
- +4% uplift in brand favourability.
- +14% uplift in purchase intent (vs +3% for standard OOH), outperforming retail benchmarks of +1.9%
- Drove consumer action, with 71% of those who saw the murals taking action (vs 57% for standard OOH) and outperforming retail benchmarks of 54%
- Three quarters of those who saw the murals felt the advert ‘really brought the brand/product to life’ (vs 70% for standard OOH)
- 79% agreed the murals made them ‘pay more attention’, (vs 71% for standard OOH)
The success of this campaign can be seen in these testimonials from New Commercial Arts and Sainsbury's:
“Habitat has always championed great design, and the new brand platform ‘Love Design, Love Habitat’ brings to life the power of design, with a nod to Habitat’s heritage. This campaign showcases the enduring legacy of Habitat’s commitment to design excellence.” Nici Hofer, Founder and Artistic Director of New Commercial Arts
“Habitat has been championing great design for six decades and we’re excited to be launching our new brand platform, ‘Love design, love Habitat’, in celebration of our 60th birthday for our biggest campaign to date. We believe that this new brand promise truly embodies our passion for making great design accessible to all and we’re proud to bring it to life for the first time to launch our anniversary collection.” Sainsbury’s director of brands, planning and creative, Radha Davies
