Hornbach - Your project only belongs to you (2016) :60 (Germany)

Aaaaah Hornbach. It's not a secret that I am a fan of this campaign as it captures the feeling so well, and to me Hornach can basically do no wrong ever since they had Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten read the catalogue back in 2005. We've seen “Mancave”, “You’re alive. Do you remember?”, “Project Biennale”, and “#Heldenkranz”(Crown of Glory) , which all speak to the DIY enthusiast by capturing the feeling of enjoying DIY.
This ad does not disappoint. This ad tells the potential Hornbach customer that their project is theirs alone, and they can do what they want, how they want to it. British director Ian Pons Jewell has produced a visually stunning narrative showing its protagonist hurtling through an extremely wide range of emotional states in the course of his DIY endeavours. He goes go from confident arrogance, to frenzy, failure and triumph, to seemingly sado-masochistic tendencies. He's combing his hair with saws because he is now king of the tools. There's sweat and dirt and our protagonist slamming through walls - to hell with convention. There's underpants flying out the window because it's hot, and laying a parquet floor takes ages and hey nobody else is around so why not? The visual language in this ad is part Delicatessen, part religious epiphany, part tool porn. The bastion of liberty is your own home, you are the king of your castle and within your own house - or project - you can do whatever you want! Hornbach may not even realize how much their ads make me want to buy a house.

"We’ve spent the past few months taking a long, hard look at the ever- increasing constraints on people’s personal freedom,” says Creative Director Guido Heffels. “We’ve looked at social regulations and laws, and also at the last bastion of liberty – one’s own four walls. A topic absolutely relevant to today.”