Heimat Unleashes a DIY Beast in New Balls to the Wall Hornbach Spot

2016 has certainly been one of the richest and most interesting years ever for Hornbach, the European Do-It-Yourself superstore chain, well known for its outstanding brand communication.

The new campaign deals with freedom in the context of one’s own home – a place where the DIY enthusiast can really go all out. A place without any external rules or regulations. The claim, “Your project only belongs to you”, is the logical and inevitable conclusion.

"We’ve spent the past few months taking a long, hard look at the ever-increasing constraints on people’s personal freedom,” says Creative Director Guido Heffels. “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.”

Working closely with British director Ian Pons Jewell (via Berlin-based film production company Anorak), Heimat has produced a visually stunning commercial capturing this topic. The narrative shows its charismatic protagonist hurtling through an extremely wide range of emotional states in the course of his DIY endeavours – from confident arrogance, frenzy, failure and triumph, to seemingly sado-masochistic tendencies. Backing the commercial is a whimsical, eccentric and highly eloquent voice – speaking, shouting and whispering "The new campaign represents the very essence of Hornbach and DIY projects,” says 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 pan-European campaign will receive special reinforcement from a DIY Special given over to the unique, individual rituals and ticks of various enthusiasts. The entirety of social media content resulting from the campaign (#projektrituale) will be collected on a Tumblr blog. The radio commercials, for example, will encourage listeners to engage in specific projects; meanwhile, the print and OoH execution for the pan-European campaign will be surprisingly restrained this time around, maintaining a respectful distance from the protagonist. After all, your project only belongs to you.