ŠKODA ‘Discovers New Possibilities’ in Its First Ever Campaign Shot Entirely at Home

Today sees the launch of Shot at Home; Discover new Possibilities, the international campaign from ŠKODA and Optimist produced by HALAL. With the obvious challenges and limitations facing the industry at large, the brand wanted to embrace the precincts of the current situation to show how creativity beats crisis. The result being a campaign that’s driven by inventiveness whilst playfully pushing the tone and style of its usual approaches and executions.

Tasking three different directors to shoot a typical ŠKODA SUV film entirely at their home provides an unusual yet (currently) usual starting point, especially for a car commercial. This premise set the tone for three surprising and distinct films for its category. Equipped with miniatures of the ŠKODA SUV models (Kodiaq, Karoq, Kamiq*), directors From Form (Jurjen Versteeg and Ashley Govers), Johan Kramer and Steffen Haars could craft films in their own unique visual style each distinctly embracing the home-made look. Manifesting recognisable home situations in both execution and narrative, the campaign echoes scenarios identifiable to most.

Ton Hollander, CCO & partner, Optimist, says: “In times where ‘the normal’ becomes ‘the odd’, you have to leave the beaten path to move forward. When the pandemic hit, our industry was (and is) confronted with radical new propositions forcing us to go back to the very core of creativity – coming up with unconventional solutions for newly emerged challenges. The core idea for Shot at Home; Discover new Possibilities is very much inspired by this spirit. We approached HALAL with an unpretentious brief: can you shoot a ŠKODA SUV campaign at home, with a minimal crew consisting of your household, only equipped with a miniature car model? The result is three distinct films each relatable to our target audience in different ways. ‘Discover New Possibilities’ not only became the tagline for the ŠKODA SUV models, but a tagline on how to embrace the emerged situation.”

Each film bears strong references to the responsible director. Not only in its direction, executional style or tone of voice, but the films also reflect various familiar stay-at-home scenarios all a result of the particular confines of the director’s current work-from-home situation. The makers had to redefine their approach and put their skills to the test to provide the home-made look fitting a large-scale campaign. 

“We chose for recognisable home situations but with a slightly surreal and graphic approach: a bathroom becomes a mirror maze. A kitchen turns into a sculpture of glasses. We don’t live in a huge mansion, to say the least, so shooting in a compact city apartment was quite a challenge. Space is your biggest enemy, so you have to plan everything pretty neat and work from room to room. But still, before you know it your whole house ends up with tripods, lights and cables - making it a “set jungle” where you also want to enjoy breakfast and dinner," said From Form, directing duo, HALAL.

“Embracing this approach as a filmmaker was a true joy, you have a lot of freedom despite the limitations. That in itself is a message I wanted my film to reflect. To achieve a real cinematic home-look I decided to shoot on super 8 film developed at an ‘in-house ‘mini-lab. It’s truly a home-production and all exceptionally experimental for a commercial project and client like this," comments Johan Kramer, director, HALAL.

“I immediately loved the idea of a ‘working-at-home-dad’ being completely distracted by a toy car, totally losing himself in this self-created car ad. The challenges and (at times) distractions of working at home are familiar to a lot of people these days. It was really refreshing to work like this, and I think what you see on screen reflects all the raw energy and enthusiasm put directly into the crafting of these films," said Steffen Haars, director, HALAL.

Tobias Talmon, head of ŠKODA marketing communication, comments: “Being inventive, human and surprising is what defines us as a brand and as a team. While this campaign perfectly delivers on that, there is extra touch of magic in the films thanks to the passion and enthusiasm of everyone involved, the directors especially. Business aside, we really hope that ŠKODA fans and friends will enjoy these films and will be inspired to discover new possibilities.”