The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Hornbach stages DIY chaos as an opera — 'No Project Without Drama' wins ADC Best of Show
Hornbach admits every project has drama: a 2:20 handmade-set choir opera, honest about failure, wins ADC 105 Best of Show.
Hornbach · HeimatTBWA\ Berlin · Tempomedia
What it had to solve
German DIY retailer Hornbach built its brand on honesty over 25 years with HeimatTBWA, while the industry's default promise was 'everything always goes smoothly.' The agency decided to tell the truth: no project is without drama.
How it works
In August 2025, Hornbach and its agency of 25 years, HeimatTBWA Berlin, answered the DIY industry's sugar-coated promise — 'everything always goes smoothly' — with unapologetic honesty: 'No project without drama.' The campaign film shows a woman's bathroom renovation spiraling through leaks, collapsing walls and stormy trips to the store before she finishes the job and stands proud.
The idea was staged as an epic theatre piece: director Lope Serrano turned the protagonist's journey into an opera performed by a 30-voice choir whose every movement mirrors her struggle, backed by a 40-piece Berlin orchestra. The sets, built in Vilnius, were constructed entirely by hand — a deliberate rebuke to an industry rushing toward AI and digital shortcuts.
Agency co-founder Guido Heffels said competitors 'often lie a bit, because they make it look too easy... there's always drama,' so the film shows the truth 'with a surreal wrapping.' The 2:20 version ran in cinemas alongside shorter cuts, TV spots, posters and social films; Heffels said audiences applauded when it screened in cinemas.
The work swept the awards circuit: at ADC 105th (May 2026) it won the Black Cube for Best of Show and Best of Discipline in Advertising, with two Gold Cubes, four Bronze and two Merits, and it took the Epica Awards Film Grand Prix. The campaign cemented Hornbach's long-running 'honest DIY' brand position — and made an ad that people applaud like a film.
Why it lands
- It dramatized honesty instead of claiming it: the choir and handmade sets make 'no project without drama' visceral, not a slogan.
- The film is entertainment first — a 2:20 opera people applauded in cinemas, which is what made it shareable and award-worthy.
- Handmade craft was the point: in an AI-driven era, physically building the sets proved the brand's respect for real work.
- It used the brand's 25-year relationship: HeimatTBWA knew Hornbach's punk ethos well enough to take a big, risky idea.
- The insight worked across media: the drama theme ran through cinema, TV, posters and social as one coherent world.
What it did
The film won ADC 105th's Black Cube for Best of Show, Best of Discipline in Advertising, two Gold, four Bronze and two Merits, plus the Epica Awards Film Grand Prix; audiences applauded it in cinemas.
What you can take
Tell the truth your category denies: rivals promise effortlessness, so staging real struggle with spectacle gives a brand an honest position no one else can copy.
Since then
The campaign became one of the most decorated of the 2025–2026 season: ADC 105th Best of Show Black Cube plus Best of Discipline in Advertising, and the Epica Awards Film Grand Prix. HeimatTBWA said it deliberately looks as little like advertising as possible, and Heffels predicted a moment like this 'will not happen again within the next three years or more' — campaigns this honest about difficulty are rare because the category normally flatters. The work extended Hornbach's two-decade-plus run with HeimatTBWA and became a reference for turning a category's denied truth into brand identity.
Sources
- HeimatTBWA\ 'No Project Without Drama' Wins Best of Show at ADC 105th
- Hornbach Casts DIY Chaos as a Choral Odyssey
- Film Grand Prix: Hornbach's Perfect Storm
- Hornbach — No Project Without Drama (work page)
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