Sponsor 
BERLIN — Are you familiar with the scent of spring?
The smell of grass, flowers, fresh soil—in short, the scent of new beginnings and the desire to get active outdoors.
It may sound impossible to bring this scent to life in communication but Hornbach gets it done with their new campaign. With a little bit of madness added for good measure.
HORNBACH’s campaign features the scent of spring in the sweaty clothes of some of its characters. The new ad tells the story of two dubious scientists with a generous helping of fun and absurdity. Accompanied by an unreliable container, the scientists collect clothes from hardworking garden lovers. Once it transitions into a hostile city, a young woman retrieves one of the vacuum-packed shirts from a vending machine and sniffs it, now smelling like spring.
“That’s the smell of spring” is the central message of the campaign. It also has additional levels of interpretation, typical of HORNBACH communication.
Thomas Schnaitmann, Head of Marketing in Germany and Marketing Communications at HORNBACH worldwide shared, “It goes without saying that the project remains central to HORNBACH communication, along with the passion and creativity of our customers. We never want to lose this aspect.”
“You can also view the ad as a discourse on the increasing urbanization and decreasing quality of life in cities. When you look at the protagonists, you may very well also see a case being made for the mature man,” Guido Heffels, Chief Creative Officer of HEIMAT said.
HORNBACH’s latest ad is directed by Sam Hibbard while production is ensued to ANORAK in Berlin. On the other hand, the accompanying poster and print campaign showcases the subject of spring through garden flora with photos taken by Kai-Uwe Gundlach.
This is the 19th spring campaign of HORNBACH under Heimat agency, while the media planning is managed by Mediaplus Group.
The campaign ad will be broadcasted in different versions in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Sweden, Netherlands, and Switzerland. It will run from March 15 to April 5 in Germany.
The accompanying poster and print materials will premiere on April.
Agency Credits:
Agency: HEIMAT, Berlin
Production: ANORAK Film GmbH
Director: Sam Hibbard
Music: BLUTdruck
