A holy sacrament won't even help here: a run down old furnace is threatening to destroy a despairing elderly woman's house.
An instrument maker plucks a typical western tune on his banjo, as rescue arrives via a taciturn craftsman, armed with a spanner and ready to rumble. Sparks fly and oil splatters, whilst he painstakingly dedicates himself to replacing the old heating with a new, modern system. Having conquered his enemy with the pure power of his handicraft, his face lights up with self-fulfilment and pride. Accompanied by his troop of the instrument maker and a painter, they drive off into the sunset and onto their next heroic artisanal adventure.
Inspired by the Western-Genre, the company "das Handwerk" tells us the story of a fulfilling working day, in a commercial that's airing nationwide from 16th February. The message reveals that for those seeking job satisfaction, craftsmanship is where it's at. So it comes as no surprise, that Das Handwerk addresses the viewer at the end with a wink and a nudge that slyly asks: "And? What did you achieve today?"
The commercial director Tore Frandsen offers a cinematic companion to the identical key-question of this year's image campaign, in which Das Handwerk calls for discussion on the standards of professional fulfilment.
Holger Schwannecke, General Secretary of the German Central Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) comments: "The craftsmen in this TV commercial represent the 5,4 Million colleagues in Germany and the moments that make them proud - from problem solving with manual skills right up to the satisfied customer."
The new commercial can be viewed as a 20 Sec. film from Feb. 16th until 01st March in the commercial blocks on RTL, SAT. 1, VOX, Super RTL, RTL 2, ProSieben, n-tv, DMAX, Welt, Sport1 and ARD.
A longer version can be viewed on the webpage handwerk.de, the Das Handwerk official YouTube channel, on
zdh.de and on other crafts organisational webpages. Along with the clip, nationwide billboards, info screens and bus advertising will draw the audience's attention to the various fulfilling aspects of a craftsmanship profession. With these online- and Social-Media activities, Das Handwerk also prompts young people to explore this topic.