BERLIN, GERMANY — HORNBACH kicks off the gardening season with a campaign that only the No.1 project hardware store could conceive. At the heart of what’s probably HORNBACH’s most complex spring campaign of all time is a madcap advert of epic proportions (2:14 minutes long), showing what can happen if you don’t look after your garden in spring: It will simply find its own way to the nearest HORNBACH store – even if it must steal your car to get there. Not surprisingly, chaos ensues, including illegal car races and vomiting bushes.
With the slogan “Come to HORNBACH. Before your garden does.”, the campaign will be visible on all channels, from OOH to social media. It’s launching with a handful of six-second long complementary trailers referring to the film in its full length on digital channels. The long version of 2:14 minutes will be shown on normal TV, along with the 30- and 45-second adverts. Airing, for example, during the night of the Oscars, at half-time of international sports matches, and naturally at the cinema.
Unlike earlier campaigns, this one relies on spin-offs to set the scene. As such, short little series such as the two behind-the-scenes adverts, the three “Scary Stories” and the HORNBACH advert about permanently low prices are all part of the campaign.
As are the protagonists of the campaign, who customers can actually encounter in the real world. How and where exactly, however, has not yet been released. “We had so many ideas during campaign development,” explained Guido Heffels, founder of Heimat, describing the project for his long- term customer. “We could have made an entire motion picture. Or even a series.”
“We see every new campaign as an opportunity to add a new remarkable chapter to the HORNBACH brand book for their customers,” continued Thomas Schnaitmann, head of international branding at HORNBACH. “The core is always the project hardware store; the packaging is always surprising and fresh.” Using quality imagery and music that never fails to be extraordinary, while remaining appropriate, HORNBACH achieves this goal every time. While the last campaign used a rendition of a Johann Sebastian Bach prelude to set the tone of the “Made by You” campaign, this time the original song gives a voice to the plants on the run, in the style of 1980s hair metal. If you listen carefully, you might be able to pick out actual requests by the plants: “Fertilize us. Respect us.”
Apart from the additional challenges caused by the pandemic, producing a campaign of this complexity was certainly an ambitious undertaking. This meant that the unity of all involved was crucial to the success of the “Unleashed” campaign. The production line-up alone is top class. The Swedish collective Traktor directed the film under the auspices of Moritz Merkel (Stink Berlin). The Brit Anthony Dod Mantle (who has won numerous awards, including an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire) was responsible for cinematography. It was edited remotely by Rick Russel at Final Cut in London. The song was composed and produced by Finger Music & Sound Design in London.
CREDITS
Campaign: “Unleashed”
Advert name: “Come to HORNBACH. Before your garden does.”
Agency: Heimat Berlin
Production: Stink Berlin
Director: Traktor
Music: Finger Music & Sound Design
Sound design: David Arnold (LOFT)
