Home Centre hijacks other brands' ads for its new campaign
Regional furniture and home accessories retailer, Home Centre has launched a new campaign with an unconventional twist: turning other brands' commercials into its own advertising platform.
Created by Publicis Middle East, the 'There We Are' campaign capitalises on a simple observation — Home Centre products appear across countless ads in the region, from food to fashion to homecare brands. Rather than producing new campaigns to showcase its vast 14,000-strong product range, Home Centre used strategically placed YouTube pre-roll ads to highlight when its furniture appears in upcoming commercials.
Each time a Home Centre item is spotted in another brand's ad, viewers are greeted with a cheeky pre-roll message drawing attention to the product's presence, followed by a playful note: 'This ad may not sell this table. But the next one will.' The campaign simultaneously hijacks attention while tipping its hat to the brands whose production efforts unintentionally doubled as Home Centre showcases.
'We realised our furniture was already in the limelight,' said Siddarth Sivaprakash, Head of Marketing and Brand at Home Centre. 'So instead of starting from scratch, we just said, 'There We Are' and let our product catalogue shine in other brands' commercials. It's smart, simple, and shows just how vast, versatile and ubiquitous our product range really is.'
Beyond being a media-savvy move, 'There We Are' carries a deeper brand statement. In a landscape dominated by larger global names, the campaign doubles as a statement that says 'Home Centre's products don't just fit in – they belong'.
The products in other ads are proof that they belong in every kind of story, blending into everything from comedy skits to luxury fragrance ads to family dinner scenes. It's a reflection of the brand's everyday relevance – a presence that feels natural rather than forced.
'Home Centre's furniture keeps showing up everywhere. Chocolate ad? There we are. Pizza ad? There we are. Cleaning ad? Yep, there we are too,' added Augusto Correia, Creative Director at Publicis Middle East. 'So we thought, why not let everyone be aware of it?'
With minimal production and media spend, the campaign flips the traditional paid media model on its head, underlining that visibility isn't always about outspending competitors – sometimes, it's about smartly recognising and owning your place in the story.
Credits
Publicis Groupe
Bassel Kakish – Chief Executive Officer
Tahaab Rais – Chief Strategy Officer
Nathalie Gevresse – Chief Executive Officer
Publicis Middle East
Aunindo Sen – Executive Creative Director
Augusto Correira – Creative Director
Aliza Siddiqi – Associate Creative Director
Nicolas Richard – Copywriter
Andre Sakai – Art Director
Jorge Yoshida – Art Director
Deydson Rocha – Editor
Guilherme Xopper – Motion Designer
Chawki Berro – Motion Designer
Shereen Mostafa – Head of Production
Mayssa Al-Azem – Agency Producer
Ahmed El Ruby – Agency Producer
Nicolas Balaa – Agency Producer
Upasana Kumar – Agency Producer
Issam Saadane – Director
Nadia Karout – Producer
Vicky Kripalani – Business Lead
Aya Baltaji – Account Manager
Landmark Group
Siddarth Sivaprakash – Head of Marketing
Vivek Narayanan – Senior Marketing Manager
Ojasvita Chandra – Assistant Manager
Digitas
Bachir Sahyoun – Associate Business Director
Omar Savage – Media Manager
Fahad Irfan – Senior Executive
Sonido Antro
Lucas Duque – Music Director
Vanessa Mayrink – Project Manager
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