HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Gold Eurobest
TitleHOME FOR CHRISTMAS
BrandEDEKA ZENTRALE AG & CO. KG
Product/ServiceEDEKA
Category B04. Use of Original Composition for a Brand or Campaign
Entrant JUNG von MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation JUNG von MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Production TEMPOMEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Jens Pfau Jung von Matt AG Executive Creative Director
Tim Hartwig Senior Art Director
Christian Moehler Senior Copywriter
Johannes Haverkamp Jung von Matt AG Executive Producer
Annika Burchert Jung von Matt AG Senior Project Manager
Simon Urban Copywriter
Alex Feil Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Director
Carlo Jelavic Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Director of Photography
Vera Portz Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Executive Producer
Justin Niklas Mundhenke Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Producer
Sabine Panek nhb video GmbH Offline Editor
Florian Lakenmacher Supreme Music GmbH Music Composer

The Campaign

Instead of telling the people a nice Christmas story, we confronted them with the harsh reality: especially the elderly are often forced to spend Christmas alone! Above all in a society, in which families are often spread across continents, this insight was more than just relevant. It met the zeitgeist. And we used it as a trigger to encourage everyone to go home for Christmas and celebrate with their loved ones again.

Creative Execution

Heart of the campaign #heimkommen (coming home) was a film that was launched on YouTube and Facebook on the 28th of November. It was also aired on TV and in cinemas before Christmas. We sparked organic reach through a strong influencer and blogger outreach program. To help the video go viral we pushed the conversation about Christmas in many different media channels: with Online-Banners, print ads, out of home posters and point of sale we encouraged people to go home for Christmas and to share their family reunions on social media, such like facebook, twitter and instagram. As it kept going, we pushed the heated debate in the social web and provided vouchers to support the reunions of families to feed the international news story.

The campaign struck a chord. And it triggered an international debate about the issue. People joined in and shared their personal #heimkommen story on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Consequently, #heimkommen developed its own dynamic. News and press reports all over the world covered the campaign. Already on the first day it achieved over 15 Million views on YouTube and Facebook. So far, the film earned almost 160 million views and has been shared on Facebook over four million times. This makes EDEKA one of the most-shared brands worldwide. There are over 100.000 posts and comments and the EDEKA fan community grew by 20 percent. Furthermore there were a lot of parodies. According to Unruly, #heimkommen was the most successful Christmas campaign of all time.

The music is an original soundtrack that was specially composed and arranged to fit the storyline of #heimkommen and underline it’s most moving moments. The singer Neele Ternes, with her strong voice and endless passion made it to an exceptionally emotional piece of music that lifted the film into another dimension. The song itself became #1 in the German Viral Charts in December 2015. Also a music video was produced to feature the single of Neeles first album.

With the integrated campaign #heimkommen (coming home), EDEKA encouraged all people in Germany to spend Christmas with their loved ones. Heart of the campaign was a film about a lonely grandfather who fakes his own death in order to reunite his family. Other channels, both online and offline, were used to encourage people to go home for Christmas and to initiate an international debate about Christmas and family. So not only the people in Germany – the actual target audience – but people around the whole world where moved by the campaign.