‘No one predicted a fish-headed man’: inside Made.com’s quirky ad

In February, brand director Jude Whyte told The Drum she was overhauling the Made brand after admitting competition from other online furniture retailers was chomping away at its market share. At the time, she said it needed to reclaim the “standout energy” it launched with and “prove” to its customers it has “more extraordinary things to show them.”

Tired of the pastel color palette it had become synonymous with, Whyte’s team went back to the drawing board and created an entirely fresh design manifesto and brand book.

As she tells The Drum when we catch up again, she wants Made to stand for “never ordinary,” a “touch of the unexpected” and “meaningful collaboration.” The first ad to come out of her new direction is a 30-second wacky spot featuring a fish head and a Stanley Kubrick-esque corridor.

The ‘Never Ordinary’ campaign film was produced by Wonderhood and directed by Fabrice Le Nezet, with campaign photography by Joe Jackson. The spot sees protagonist Daniel take a trip down a surreal corridor, opening rooms to Made-designed interiors. The final room transports Daniel into an underwater-inspired aesthetic and ends with his head being replaced by a pink fish head.

Partnering with Wonderhood is a major departure from Made’s traditional in-house creative model. Apart from brief dalliances with The Grid and Above + Beyond for TV project work, Made has nearly entirely existed without an agency partner since its 2011 launch.

Traditionally, its internal creative team has managed everything from the creation and production of social, copywriting and PR to visual merchandising and out-of-home (OOH) ads.

Back to that fish head. Whyte says the fish is a “nod to the sense of curiosity” it wants its customers to feel exploring its products. “The fish head is memorable, playful and 100% Never Ordinary. I mean, no one predicted a fish-headed man coming in the next Made ad, did they?

“Ultimately, we wanted to create something that is bold, daring and memorable.”

The use of the corridor was to “showcase the breadth of Made’s offering.” “No home is the same, and even within one home there are so often different looks and concepts, as well as uses,” Whyte adds.

Whyte explains that the furniture seen in the film represents different aspects of the brand, including the Bobo chair, which Whyte calls a “sculptural statement”; the Topeka bed, which “adds a touch of sophistication while being modern”; and the Kasiani linen-blend sofa, which puts “sustainability at the forefront.”

The brief to Wonderhood was left deliberately broad, she says. “The openness of the brief allowed us and Wonderhood to explore creative concepts without the usual parameters, which is really what Never Ordinary is all about,” she says.

“Early creative developments explored everything from unusual locations and artistic sculptural installations to references from TV and film,” Whyte adds.

The campaign will roll out in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The media plan has been staggered, with the film distributed digitally first before launching on TV in the coming months and being supported by print and later OOH.

The big-ticket campaign comes as the made-to-order retailer posted a loss of £314m for 2021 and saw its market value drop from £755m to £285m. The retailer has previously cited global supply chain issues and transport costs for its troubling financial results.

The effect of the cost of living crisis is another kick in the teeth for the high-end millennial homeware brand. In its latest earnings report, Made claimed its H1 trading had been impacted by “worsening consumer sentiment.”

“It’s clear that things are tough for consumers at the moment. Understandably, we’ve seen a worsening in consumer confidence since May, and this has had an impact on this period’s performance,” said its chief exec Nicola Thompson in July.

Competing with cheaper homeware e-commerce companies such as Wayfair and Habitat, Made.com may need to invest big in advertising. Could this latest spot be the first sign of a deep-pocketed commitment to advertising?