CREATIVES TO WATCH: Christofer Kümmerer, Creative Director at Heimat TBWA in Berlin, on PowerPoint-compatible gut feelings, the courage to think against the grain, and the HORNBACH campaigns
For nearly three years, Christofer Kümmerer has been shaping the creative identity of one of Germany’s most distinctive advertising agencies as Creative Director at Heimat TBWA in Berlin. After previous roles at BBDO and Jung von Matt, he now channels his ideas into campaigns that combine emotion, attitude, and craftsmanship — such as those for HORNBACH. Under the leadership of Guido Heffels (Chief Creative for HORNBACH, Founder of HEIMAT Berlin), he is responsible for award-winning work like “Listen to Your Hands” and the current spring campaign “Celebrate Like a Child” — a heartfelt homage to that first breath of fresh air after winter and the magic of new beginnings. In this interview, Christofer talks about creative intuition, why advertising trends are often just gut feelings in disguise — and why genuine emotion matters more than perfect staging.
What does a typical day as a Creative Director at Heimat TBWA look like? Do you have a morning routine that gets you into a creative flow?
Christofer: I’m not a routine person. I find that far too limiting. I just dive straight into the chaos.
How long do you usually develop an idea before sharing it with the client? And how does the idea evolve once it goes into production?
Christofer: A good idea wants a reaction. People see or hear it and either laugh or shake their heads. Amazing. But that doesn’t only start once everything’s finished — it begins much earlier. If a thought is good, it triggers something. In creatives, in clients, in production. Everyone has their own perspective and wants to push the idea forward in their own way. Sometimes that really drives things ahead. Sometimes it shows what needs to go. Both are valuable. A good idea always defines itself through resistance — until eventually, it hits the streets.
HORNBACH campaigns have a strong emotional impact. Is there a secret behind this consistent success?
Christofer: I think we’ve all had that moment at the doctor’s office. You’re not feeling great and want to get checked out. Then the doctor gives you a perfectly accurate string of Latin medical terms as a diagnosis. You leave confused and start Googling or asking ChatGPT what it actually means. But deep down, all you really wanted to hear was: “You’re going to be okay.”
The doctor is so lost in their ivory tower of technical perfection, trying to do the best possible job, that they forget the human part — and they lose us.
We in advertising are professionals too, and we often forget that 99.9% of people are not professionals. Advertising is not a package insert. What grabs our little Stone Age brain stands a better chance of being truly loved — or hated — by real people.
With the spring campaign “Celebrate Like a Child,” you’re striking a very positive tone. How important is it to spark positive emotions through advertising, especially nowadays?
Christofer: Romantic comedies are back in theaters. Real romantic comedies. What a genre revival. For a while, it looked like we only craved the next massive apocalypse scenario with superheroes. And advertising? It’s part of this pop culture cosmos. It lives on the same screens - sometimes as a disruption, sometimes as a statement. Isn’t this craving for gloom, this cynicism, actually a total luxury product? I think that, for a long time, we collectively had it really good. There were hardly any problems people couldn’t just ignore. And like Romans in the amphitheater, we began to entertain ourselves with others’ suffering. Cynicism and pseudo-realism kept outdoing each other. But does anyone really remember that one episode of Game of Thrones that was so dark you couldn’t even see what was happening? Meanwhile, Friends is still holding strong at the top of the streaming charts. Of course, we need that delicate balance between light and heavy. RTL+ and ARTE. The fact that we’re now seeing more feel-good pop culture products again feels to me like a return to normal. Our human default setting is joy.
Where do your ideas for a new campaign come from? Are they rooted more in personal experiences or in major current trends?
Christofer: Ideas don’t come from trends. Or even megatrends. At best, a trend is the collective attempt to legitimize an intuition. When enough people have the same gut feeling, we suddenly start calling it a trend. All of us got into this field because we were convinced we knew what was right, cool, or beautiful. Because we believed we understood what fits the moment. We get paid for our gut feeling. And of course, that’s influenced by what’s going on out there — by what we listen to on Spotify in the morning, what we see on TikTok in the bathroom at lunchtime, and what we hear at the bar in the evening. In the end, advertising trends are just gut feelings that work well in PowerPoint. The real excitement happens out there.
Where do you see the future of advertising heading content-wise? Will there be an even stronger focus on authenticity and emotional connection?
Christofer: That’s an interesting question. I think a lot of what we see as "authentic" advertising these days is just trying to imitate social media. Everything’s shot to look deliberately unpolished, filmed in shaky 9:16 to mimic the style of creators and influencers. That’s how those platforms work — they’re all about being approachable and relatable.
And their success in selling has opened a lot of eyes. Will this go on forever? I’m not so sure.
Which campaign has been the most creative or fulfilling for you personally? Was there a moment where you thought: “This is it”?
Christofer: Always the most recent one.
What are your next big creative goals or projects you’re eager to bring to life? Is there a topic or idea you’ve been wanting to tackle?
Christofer: Always the next one.
AI is already being integrated quite effectively into advertising. How are you using this tool creatively at HEIMAT?
Christofer: You can’t really talk about AI without touching on the ethical questions. The access to the entirety of (creative) human knowledge — structured and synthesized — is simply brilliant. But it’s also part of a massive transformation. Like when handcraft was replaced by automated looms during the early Industrial Revolution. Something fundamental shifted back then, and that’s happening again now. Of course, AI is already part of our workflow. But it’s the stirrup, not the rider. It can summarize, combine, and condense. Like in a school test: question one — “Summarize the text and draw conclusions.” Pass. But you only get an A for question three: “Write your own text.”
If you could have a creative superpower, what would it be — and how would it change your work as a Creative Director?
Christofer: Hmm, isn’t creativity already our shared superpower? 😉 But yes, being able to stop time would be amazing — to realize everything you want to do. On the other hand, maybe the pressure would disappear too. So, probably best to leave the superpowers alone.
More campaigns via heimattbwa.de
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