The Hornbach Hammer
Hornbach
Issue 32 | September 2014
Agency
Heimat, Berlin
Creative Team
CCO/Founder: Guido Heffels CEO: Matthias von Bechtolsheim Account Supervisor: Maik Richter Creative Director: Kai Heuser Copywriters: Mirjam Kundt, Sabina Hesse, Gün Aydemir, Katja Gottfried, Matei Curtasu Art Directors: Susanna Fill, Teresa Jung, Henrik Schweder, Martijn Koster Art Directors: Kenzi Benabdallah, Christopher Brinkmann Illustration: Martijn Koster Account Managers: Christina Walke, Fabian Stein Agency Producers: Kerstin Heffels Graphic Design: Jared Leistner, Maria Botsch, Benedikt Gansczyk Producers: Andrea Roman-Perse, Jakob Rühle Director: Tobias Perse Editor: Kai Kniepkamp Camera: Casey Campbell Post Production: Recom, Sublime
Production Team
Production: Bigfish Filmproduction
Date
July 2013
Background
Most people own at least one hammer, it's THE symbol for DIY. That's why, Germanys leading DIY superstore, Hornbach, used it for a very special promotion campaign in the summer of 2013.
It started in december 2012 with an old Soviet tank. Over the next months, it was transformed into a product that communicated what Hornbach is all about, passion for home improvement projects, mixed with a fair share of madness.
Idea
The German DIY market is over-saturated, with homogenous products as well as prices. Brand awareness is key for consumer engagement and attracting customers in the stores, both on and offline. The Hornbach target group has a strong connection to engaging in DIY work and creating personal projects, thus opening a spectrum of possibilities in the field of consumer interactions online. The unique insight was to create a limited-edition product to single out the most highly engaged consumers and provide them with a token of brand affiliation. The product strategy and its distinct characteristics would have to communicate and appeal to a broader audience than just loyal brand consumers and get new consumers involved in the campaign as well, by differentiating from the competition in an original way.
Results
Facebook worked as a hub for the campaign, resulting in 15,000,000 impressions and more than 300.000 people shared content from the campign. This made the hammer extremly attractive before it was even released and then it sold out fast. Online in only 5 minutes and in stores it took only 2 hours. People went as far as auctioning their hammers on eBay, one went for 26* times the original price. The campaign also had a massive impact in traditional media. Over 100 different magazines, news stations and online newspapers reported about it, resulting in a media value over 832.214€.