With over 14,000 products, Home Centre is in homes across the region. Showcasing every single item in individual ads would be an enormous (and expensive) challenge. But ever since noticing that countless ads from across the Middle East already feature their products, Home Centre found a workaround: Instead of making new ads, let’s use the ones that already exist––quite literally taking what’s theirs and making it Home Centre’s. 

The campaign, created by Publicis Middle East, identifies commercials from other brands where Home Centre furniture and accessories make an appearance. Then, with strategically targeted YouTube pre-rolls, Home Centre steals the attention, letting viewers know its products are featured in the next ad they’re about to watch, acting as a cheeky hijack of other brands’ time, effort, and money spent. Their production, their budgets, their media, their audience, is now Home Centre’s spotlight. 

Call it an unintentional collab or production value robbery––ads from all over the region have transformed into Home Centre’s product catalogue. But the brands behind these ads did not go unappreciated. Every time Home Centre hijacked an ad, it also tipped its hat with messages such as “This ad may not sell this table. But the next one will.” –– acting as playful thank-yous to credit where it was due.

But the message goes deeper. For a brand often perceived as the quieter alternative to certain big-name competitors, ‘There We Are’ is also a declaration of presence against Swedish giants. And sometimes, all it takes is spotting what’s yours and saying, There We Are.

After “A Dad’s Job,” recognizing and celebrating Arab single moms, Middle East furniture & furnishings retail brand Home Centre has chosen to again address and provide support to families and homes on an untapped and unspoken topic in the Middle East, adoption and fostering, via “The Homecoming.” 

Activating its purpose of giving every home its own unique story to tell, Home Centre is the first brand to talk about this controversial topic in the Arab world, shedding light on the need for loving homes and caring families for the many orphans in the region.

The new initiative includes a short film, titled “Falling in Love,” and a digital platform launched in November 2022 on World Adoption Day to share knowledge around the topic from a well-known psychologist and legal advisor. The platform also provides links to organizations one can contact to learn more about adoption or fostering across the region. Famous influencers who have adopted, as well as TV shows, will be joining in to support the initiative. Additionally, a unique art exhibition will also be telling stories of children who are without a family or a home.

Credits:

Creative Agency: Publicis Groupe MENAT – Leo Burnett Middle East

Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Groupe: Bassel Kakish

Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett: Kalpesh Patankar

Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe: Tahaab Rais

Head of Production, Leo Burnett: Shereen Mostafa

Creative Director, Leo Burnett: Kapil Bhimekar

Associate Creative Director, Leo Burnett: Farhan Siddiqui

Senior Manager – Strategy & Insights, Leo Burnett: Anna Sadykova

Senior Producer, Leo Burnett: Judy Lamaa

Senior Manager – Communications Consultancy, Saatchi & Saatchi: Maria Jabbour

Senior Manager – Communications Consultancy, Leo Burnett: Nourhan El Geneidy

Production Company: Publicis Groupe MENAT – Prodigious ME

Director, Story & Screenplay: Tahaab Rais

Director of Photography: Aeyaz Hasn

Chief Executive Officer: Sami Saleh

Production Operation Lead: Myriam Abi Wardeh

Executive Producer: Naji Bechara

Producer: Marie Noel Bou Haila

Assistant Director: Remy Haddad

Casting Director: Rita Gergess

Actors: Basmaa Baydoun and Elias Zayek

Art Director: Charbel Zgheib

Wardrobe: Michella Bteiche

Make-up: Jean Pierre Ghosn

Hair: Fady Aoun

Production Manager: Elie Deek

Focus Puller: Joseph Kfoury

Grip: Elie Eid, GripBox

Production Runner: Hussein Dia

Locations: Picture House Lebanon

Post-Production: Publicis Groupe MENAT – Optix ME

Post-Production Operation Lead: Nayla Chacra

Post Producer: Megan Markel

Editor: Neda Zag, Cold Cutz

Colorist: Karim Mira, LZRD

Online: Eddy Farah

Singer: Alyssa Baker

Music: Seppl Kretz, Gyo Kretz and Michael Bertoldini, Magma Music Agency

Sound and SFX: Chris Atkins and Joe Dickinson, With Feeling

Brand: Home Centre

Chief Executive Officer: Sameer Jain

Head of Marketing and Brand: Siddarth Sivaprakash

Senior Manager Media and Trade Marketing: Atharv Ruparel

Manager Media and Trade Marketing: Hassaan Khan

Assistant Manager Creative and Brand: Deviani Rao

Assistant Manager Creative and Brand: Abbas Nashrulla

Assistant Manager Social Media: Minna Pauly

Senior Executive Media and Trade Marketing: Rinesha Nikam

Senior Executive Creative and Brand: Kamila Walter

Arabic Copywriter: Hala Domlog

Senior Graphic Designer: Allan Cablao

Graphic Designer and Animator: Ronald Patricio

The identity launch was preluded by the ‘Your Home. Your Home Centre’ campaign. A digital activation that reached out to people across the region. Customers could participate without any purchase and simply express ‘What home means to them?’.

Over 12,000 people across the GCC participated in this activation, sharing with Home Centre their unique home stories, their favorite color, texture, pattern & object. Home Centre used these unique home inspirations to support their thought process behind the new identity which is inspired by real people and reflects their lives, their stories. 25 winners of this contest will be thanked for their participation with room makeovers from Home Centre.

With the brand makeover, Home Centre has stepped up its efforts to evolve with the changing consumer behavior and offer the latest styles and designs. The new brand makeover is also a reflection of how Home Centre’s customers can update their homes and explore new ideas, designs, and color palettes to give a stylish makeover to their homes.

Following the reveal of the new identity, Home Centre reimagined the customer shopping experience and journey for their store at City Centre Mirdif. Offering an easy and convenient shopping experience, the store hosts dedicated category destinations, to offer a range of choices. Parents can shop freely while the kids are engaged in the entertainment area. The new format store at City Centre Mirdif is Home Centre’s largest store in the UAE spanning across 79, 000 sq ft. of inspiration. Additionally, the store also offers to click and collect and personalized design services.

Aarti Jagtiani, Group Director and Board Member, Landmark Group, commented on the campaign, “We are in the business of creating human impact and with 25 years in the business, it is time for us to take a fresh approach for the next 25 years and more. We are proud to be operating in a country that continues to seek new goals and ambitions under its able leadership, and we at Landmark follow the same vision of incorporating innovative ways to serve our customers and residents better. The Group and its business verticals have witnessed strong, steady, organic growth in this country with Home Centre and we are confident that we will continue this momentum in the years to come.”

Sameer Jain, CEO of Home Centre, added, “As part of our journey, we realized we need to stay even more connected to our customers and there was a need to evolve with changing consumer behavior. We are now looking at the next 25 years and want to reach out to our customers with a re-positioned look and feel of our brand which is not just a physical change in identity but a refreshed ethos that runs across the various touchpoints of our organization. Through ongoing research and continuous engagement with our customers across the region, we have been working towards evolving our offer based on consumer needs which have culminated in the launch of a new positioning and brand identity that helps us connect better with our customers.