Treasure hunt for millions of ZDF viewers
MöbelFirst celebrates its TV premiere. In December - and thus at the height of the furnishing season - a TV commercial for the designer furniture portal will be broadcast on ZDF for the first time. At first glance, this seems unusual for a digital company that largely reaches its customers via Google or the major online portals: "However, we came to the conclusion that we would like to try out other forms of advertising to address our customers, as there is still a lot of new communicative territory for us away from the well-trodden and proven paths," says Dennis Franken, who founded MöbelFirst together with Christoph Ritschel in 2016. Together, the two sat down with the ZDF marketing strategists, analyzed the target groups and defined possible advertising spaces. Then everything had to happen very quickly, because the slots during primetime are in high demand. "Anyone who believes that TV is dead as an advertising channel is mistaken," Ritschel learned. Once it was clear that MöbelFirst would be represented in prime time, filming could begin. So in November it was time for action!
MöbelFirst was able to rely on its network, as the film was shot at Designfunktion in Bonn, a premium retailer that has been cooperating closely with the online portal for a long time. The agency in charge also comes from MöbelFirst's home town: Vogelheim TV designed the storyboard together with Christoph Ritschel and guided the filming in a highly professional manner. "It was fascinating to see what it takes to create a 20-second advertising clip - definitely a lot of patience and a ten-hour day of filming. Every detail has to be right and the clip can't be a tenth of a second longer or shorter," remarks Christoph Ritschel.
The storyline is clearly tailored to the two founders. "In the beginning, there was still the idea of using actors, but we wanted to keep it authentic and show who is really behind MöbelFirst," explains Dennis Franken. And so the two elegantly dressed gentlemen point out with a lot of humor in the advertisement that MöbelFirst only sells discounted individual items. "But don't tell anyone," Christoph Ritschel admonishes his partner, "otherwise we won't have any furniture left tomorrow. Because at MöbelFirst you can only find everything once, but it's inexpensive, in stock and immediately available."
With charm and a clear message, the two MöbelFirst managing directors invite an audience of millions to discover the wide range of more than 6,000 individual items, factory sales and exhibition pieces. All items have short delivery times because they are in stock or still on display and are therefore immediately available. And to make it really worthwhile for viewers to visit the portal, they can activate a 100-euro voucher that is displayed in the commercial. Brands also play a prominent role. The entire ZDF campaign was created in cooperation with Musterring and WK Wohnen, which is why only furniture from these furnishing brands can be seen, as well as premium brands such as USM, Cassina and USM. As access to the website is likely to be above average due to the TV commercials, the MöbelFirst team is currently working hard to upload as many sofas, armchairs, chairs, tables, chests of drawers, wall units etc. as possible. All of this can be experienced on the new website, which went live a few weeks ago and promises visitors a convenient furniture shopping experience.
Behind the advertising campaign is a clear branding strategy to make (new) customers curious about MöbelFirst. "Many people don't even know that they are interested in furniture when they switch on the TV. We invite people to browse through our wide range of discounted and reduced-price designer furniture. In December, many people finally have some time to go on a treasure hunt and get inspired," says Dennis Franken.
