HORNBACHs autumn campaign sets a new standard in advertising, with its innovative approach of breaking boundaries and thinking outside the box. Addressing the largest housing deficit in more than 20 years, this campaign focused on embracing the potential of one square meter.

To do so, we staged a completely square creation with completely square media measures. Consistently across all conceivable media channels – even on channels that are not designed for squares. We made the unthinkable possible by challenging every media placement, which led to a massive range of first movers on various online and offline touchpoints.

Rental prices have exploded in recent years, and the housing shortage is rising in many parts of Germany, with many people living in increasingly smaller spaces. In 2023, a record housing shortage is looming with over 700,000 missing apartments, marking the largest housing deficit in more than 20 years.

The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) industry is navigating through its own set of challenges. The sector, already known for its competitive nature, is witnessing an intensification of this rivalry. This intense competition is further exacerbated by the changing patterns of media consumption. The traditional avenue of advertising is becoming less effective as media usage becomes more fragmented, posing a significant challenge for brands like HORNBACH to maintain their visibility and relevance in the eyes of the consumer.

As living space becomes increasingly scarce and expensive, maximizing every potential space is crucial. HORNBACH takes a stand on the issue of space shortage and demonstrates diversity in the smallest of areas: on one square meter. Yet, many people are unaware of the immense project potential that lies within a square meter.

It's essential to differentiate from traditional campaigns, to break out of patterns, and to use topics of societal relevance. Every discussion about usable space converges on a ubiquitous unit of measurement: The square meter. Yet, many people are unaware of the immense project potential that lies within it.

In an era where space for big ideas seems to be ever-shrinking, the HORNBACH autumn campaign makes a clear statement - with four sides of equal length. More consistent and interconnected than ever, creation and media should reflect, inspire, and demonstrate what can be achieved on a single square meter.

The square meter is the core element of the campaign: the creation was produced in a square format throughout, making it distinctive and eye-catching. This posed a tremendous challenge for media: Almost no advertising format is square. From OOH to display, from TV split screens to print inserts, portrait and landscape formats dominate the world of advertising mediums. That was, until this campaign – introducing: Media2

True to the well-known craftsman's motto "If it doesn't fit, make it fit," a media strategy was developed that is as simple and innovative in its basic concept as it is extremely consistent in implementation and highly effective and surprising in perception: Every purely visual media booking is square, and every tactile media booking is exactly the size of one square meter.

The basis of this strategy is that all marketers take up our special square format and make it realizable. This took us a lot of persuasion and the intention to overcome the limits shown.

This led to a mass of first movers and demonstrated the potential that lies in every square meter in unconventional and innovative ways.

We staged split screens in a square format on +10 TV channels and transformed extreme-format display placements into entirely new advertising formats.

On the vertical video platform TikTok, we stood out with the first square GestureAd on the ForYouPage. An innovative special print insert measuring 1x1m presented the exact size of a square meter to over 380,000 readers.

We created over 3,000 m² of total advertising space:

Situationally relevant floor graphics at train stations prompted reflection: “You're waiting for your train. This square meter is waiting to unleash its potential.”

In Germanys cities with the highest square meter prices, contextual floor graphics near famous landmarks sparked conversation.Chalk stencils additionally provided reach in 30 cities.

Projects from eight countries gave inspiration on what´s possible on one square meter. Episodic and digital-first display formats and content creators invited the target group into the world of HORNBACH media2.

Tactile 1m² advertising materials, covering an area of over 380,000m², an inspiring content series featuring eight projects, and unprecedented advertising formats with a consistency that only HORNBACH can deliver.

More than 971 million square gross contacts and a net reach of over 90% in the target audience increased the aided advertising recall by 18 percentage points above the average of the main competitors.

First movers and special stagings with >345 million contacts created buzz (+4 million earned media contacts) and achieved a substantial differentiation in the values of "passion for craftsmanship" (+15%*) and "positively stands out from usual advertising" (+48%*) compared to all competitors.

We achieved a yearly high in aided brand awareness in 2023 and ranked #2 in competitive comparison. Through the consistent digital & social-first demonstration, the brand was perceived as more modern and contemporary than ever before by the target audience (aged 18-25).

*Quantilope Markentracking