''Heimkommen'' (Homecoming) and the related
hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
#heimkommen is a German commercial video for the supermarket corporation
Edeka
The Edeka Group is the largest German supermarket corporation , holding a market share of 20.3%. Founded in 1907, it consists today of several co-operatives of independent supermarkets all operating under the umbrella organisation ''Edeka Zen ...
that
went viral
Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...
in November and December 2015.
In the commercial,
Arthur Nightingale
Arthur Tulloch Nightingale (born 1931) is a British actor.
Nithtingale started his acting career rather late in life. He left school at 14 and worked as a telecommunication technician. It wasn't until the age of 42 that he was able to attend the ...
plays a German grandfather faking his own death to reunite his family on Christmas.
Video
The 1:46-minute commercial shows a well-to-do grandfather receiving messages over the years from his successful children around the world, who call off family get-togethers at Christmas time. Each year he eats his Christmas dinner by himself. Eventually he fakes his own death, and his grieving children and grandchildren travel to his home, only to find him still alive. He tells them, "I had no other way to bring you together". After the family unites in a joyful Christmas dinner, the final shot shows the Edeka logo.
[
Arthur Tulloch Nightingale plays the role of the grandfather][ and Stella Stocker plays his daughter.] The advertising agency is Jung von Matt
Jung von Matt (JvM) is an advertising agency headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, with 24 affiliates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, China, Poland and the Czech Republic. Jung von Matt is the second biggest owner-run German advertisin ...
. Alex Feil directed the clip, which was shot in Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
and Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
.
Viral phenomenon
Edeka published the commercial on Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
and YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
on November 28, 2015. By December 2 it had received 300,000 likes and 500,000 shares on Facebook and over 20 million views on YouTube. , views on YouTube had passed 43 million.[ (with English subtitles)]
Reviews and reactions
British retail chains (compare John Lewis Christmas advert
The John Lewis Christmas advert is an ongoing television advertising campaign released by British department store chain John Lewis & Partners in the build-up to Christmas. John Lewis & Partners launched their first Christmas advert in 2007. It ...
) often use emotional commercials for Christmas, but this had not been the custom in Germany. #heimkommen led on a current chart of such ads with more than 33 million clicks after a week. The video is a showcase for Integrated marketing communications
Marketing Communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
on different channels.
Parodies have appeared including: a family angry about the deception killing their grandfather and a Deutsche Bahn
The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.
describes itself as the se ...
image showing Arthur Nightingdale in a train dining car
A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant.
It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...
and the caption: ''Lieber Opa, warte nicht bis sie zu Dir kommen'' (Dear Grandpa, don't wait till they come to you). An Italian PR agency reworked the spot shortly after its release with an Italian background; in their version, the nonno expresses fears about his stock of Parmesan
Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months.
It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' is ...
cheese deteriorating.
References
External links
*
* {{SoundCloud, edeka-404001891/neele-ternes-dad-edeka-weihnachtsclip-heimkommen
Advertising in Germany
Advertisements
Viral videos
German culture
2015 works
Hashtags