Hands Help Lazy Owners Get Back to Work in Quirky HORNBACH Spot

The close relationship between typical HORNBACH project customers and their hands has always been a recurring element of HORNBACH DIY/ Home Improvement communication. But what actually happens when our own hands want something different from their owner, who prefers to lose himself in the colourful world of first and second screens? When our hands are made for so much more. 

It is precisely this scenario that the new campaign from long-term agency HeimatTBWA\ literally takes to the extreme. In the commercial, the hands want to "get back to work on the project" while the protagonist is still lounging on the sofa. What follows is an amusing and painful, traditionally insane lesson that the lost DIY soul is given by its own hands. And we all know the power of our own hands. "Hands and will are probably the most valuable and magical creative tools at your disposal. However, it's also one that DIY enthusiasts have to bring to the project themselves," says Thomas Schnaitmann, head of international brand at HORNBACH, "even the HORNBACH range doesn't have that for once."

The purification process extends from the sofa to the half-finished loft conversion, where the performer has visibly come to his senses and become one with his hands. Obey your hands, is the simple and clear HORNBACH message for late summer/autumn. "This completes 2024 as the declared year of HORNBACH humour, which began with the much-discussed cocoon spot," says Guido Heffels, who has been creatively responsible for HORNBACH communication for 25 years now.

As always, there are many other layers of interpretation in the commercial in addition to the obvious message. Analogue versus digital. Acting versus consuming. Active versus passive. The commercial was produced by Tony Petersen Film and their EP Michael Duttenhöfer. It was directed by Steve Rogers (Revolver, Sydney) DoP: Daniel Landin, set design: Steven Jones-Evans. Katalyst in Berlin was in charge of visual effects. The tango that musically accompanies the path of purification comes from Machine in New York. 

As always, the staging of the idea is extremely diverse and has plenty of surprises in store. In addition to the moving image impact, the campaign includes various other executions in social media, digital, (D)OHH, radio, ambient and at the POS.