‘Hickinbotham is where the heart is’ in latest campaign via Melbourne creative agency Good One
Melbourne-based creative agency Good One and South Australia’s number one home builder Hickinbotham, est.1954 have come together to create a new campaign ‘Hickinbotham Is Where The Heart Is’, launching this week.
The creative team, led by Creative Director & Founder Charlie Howcroft, drew their emotional ambition from wordless cinematic storytelling – like the opening sequence of Pixar’s Up – trusting that image and music alone would carry the full weight of that home feeling; comfort, safety and belonging.
Says Michael Hickinbotham, Managing Director, Hickinbotham: “This campaign is not just about launching a television commercial, it’s about telling the world who we are and what we stand for.”
At the heart of the campaign is an original waltz, composed, arranged and performed by director of the film Matt Wallace, a creative double that gives the work a rare coherence between image and sound.
A waltz is not arbitrary. It is the musical form of a long relationship and mimics the dance of life – people living together, reading each other, anticipating the next step, and experiencing moments big and small. For a home builder with over 70 years of South Australian history and 150,000 families behind them, it captured the legacy of the brand.
The moments themselves are linked by a light motif; a homemade disco in a child’s bedroom, a sensor light interrupting a first kiss, outdoor garden lights switched on by dad, the reveal of a surprise party – building to an aerial reveal of a suburb-wide formation of homes tracing the shape of a love heart. South Australia, seen from above, showing all the hearts that are at home with Hickinbotham.
Says Howcroft: “We wanted the film to feel the way it actually feels to come and be home. We hope the audience can resonate with more than one of the moments we have heroed. For me it’s a dance party with my sister when we were young.”
Says Justin Oxley, Marketing Manager at Hickinbotham: “We wanted something that would sit with people – that would remind South Australians why we’ve been part of their lives for 70 years. Good One understood that brief instinctively.”
The campaign was captured by Alexandra Naughten, produced by James Nolan, with accounts led by Harriet Renn.
Client: Hickinbotham Homes
Hickinbotham Marketing Manager: Justin Oxley
Creative Agency: Good One
Creative Director: Charlie Howcroft
Account Director: Harriet Renn
Director: Matt Wallace
Producer: James Nolan
Cinematographer: Alexander Naughton
Production Manager: Ben Golotta
Steadicam: Shane Booth
1st AC: James Wire
2nd AC: Pierah Summers
Gaffer: Nic Datson
1st LX: Sam Clarke
2nd LX: Laura Kennedy
Sound Recordist: Michael Farrell
Photographer: Jack Fenby
Production Designer: Jonah Booth
Standby Props: Jada Zilm
Wardrobe department: Chloe Spalding
Makeup Artist: Natasha Stone
Makeup Artist: Natasha Keneally
Drone operator: Alexander Naughton
BTS stills/Motion: Rory Pippan
Safety Officer: Tom Sutherland
Catering: Liaison Catering Adelaide
Editor: Lissie Mary Geyer
Composition: Matt Wallace
Sound design & mix: Andrew Collie Richards
Colour Grade: Sam McCarthy
Grading House: Crayon
VFX: Harvey Abrahams
Title animation: Max Robins
Online & Finishing: James Nolan
Broadcast compliance: Lawrence Phelan
Talent (in order of appearance):
Mother: Lilli Rosenberg (RMT)
Grandmother: Julie Quick (SA CASTING)
Daughter: Rachael Horbelt (RMT)
Guest #1: Jodie Collins (ActorsINK)
Guest #2: Rodney Pike
Guest #3: Imogeone Mons (RMT)
Dog #1: Louis Booth
Backyard Dad: Drew Dwyer
Man: Rodney Pike
Woman: Jodie Collins (ActorsINK)
Young man: Brad Altus (ActorsINK)
Young woman: Brianna Roseman (ActorsINK)
Woman: Imogeone Mons (RMT)
Man: Douglas De Souza (RMT)
Teenage boy: Max Harris (RMT)
Boy: Ryan Birt (RMT)
Girl: Olivia Birt (RMT)
Friend #1: Jamie Culross
Friend #2: Tilly Cole
Friend #3: Ethan Bedford
Friend #4: Ai Win Chan
Boy: Tyler Marsh (RMT)
Girl: Charlie Marsh (RMT)
Mother: Lilli Rosenberg (RMT)
Dog #2: Sienna Birt
Boy: Ryan Birt (RMT)
Girl: Olivia Birt (RMT)
Agents:
RMT management @rmtmanagement
ActorsINK @actors_ink
SA Casting @sa.casting
Register for FREE HERE and receive the Campaign Brief Daily Bulletin and/or the global Best Ads Best of the Week Bulletin. Subscribe to Campaign Brief Magazine.
#More Creative News #No paywalls #No annual membership fees
Subscribe to Portfolio & Reel for current listings of Australian and NZ ad agency and production company leadership and key personnel.