B&Q has launched a thought-provoking new brand campaign, rooted in the sentiment that ‘You don’t buy a life. You build one.’ The campaign celebrates the belief that anyone can change their home to make life better. The new strategic thinking, created with Uncommon Creative Studio, is to be rolled out through paid, owned and earned channels through September.

‘Build a Life’ represents a new direction for B&Q and is the first in a series of campaigns, created by Uncommon Creative Studio, to drive emotional connection with the brand, reinstating its meaningful place in the UK market.

B&Q believes that anyone can improve their home to make life better. Our homes are where life happens – a place we grow-up, learn, and live our lives.  Home has never been so important and a recent survey by B&Q found that lockdown has changed British attitudes towards our homes for good, with 57 percent agreeing our homes are more significant in improving our lives than ever.

This new campaign highlights that there’s so much more to everyday DIY. The strategic thinking from Uncommon, appointed by the brand last year, celebrates life in the home and the power of home improvement to change lives. Originally inspired by the amazing things people do to improve their homes to make their life better – something made even more significant by lockdown – the campaign taps into the fundamental truths about our homes and reflects the role B&Q has played in transforming the UK’s homes for the past 50 years.

Chris Graham, Marketing Director, B&Q said: “At B&Q we’ve been making, growing and selling the tools, materials and know-how to improve homes for over 50 years. To us, these things are more than bricks and mortar.

“We believe that anyone can improve their home to make life better. It’s precisely this insight that makes us so proud and privileged to be a business where we can help people shape the homes that mean so much to them. Our 27,000 colleagues, myself included, love hearing about the projects our customers take on - it’s what inspires and motivates us.

“It’s been great working with the team at Uncommon. The creative approach gathered many amazing stories of real families in their homes. We learned how they improved them, and how they became places where important life moments were created.  We hope the campaign reminds everyone of the magic and power of home improvement to do so much more than build a home.”

Nils Leonard, Co-founder, Uncommon added: “‘You can do it’ has never been a more powerful thought. The idea that you can build a room, a house, a life. Uncommon are proud to partner B&Q in their mission to help everyone build the life they want.”

B&Q’s new campaign and brand purpose has been creatively brought to life by Uncommon through a 60’ film capturing real life moments, using real people’s archive footage, to represent a genuine portrait of British homes and how they have been improved across the years.

The film shows snippets of real home videos from 69 families across the 69 cities that make-up the UK. We see the ups and downs of life at home and how home improvement can shape them. We see nostalgic moments of growing up including birthday parties, redecorating bedrooms, cups of tea catchups, slammed doors from family rows and making room for that new picture on the wall. These memories resonate and reflect life events. We are narrated through each family scene from the kitchen to the garden with some powerful words read by Game of Thrones actor, Rory McCann. The film is set to a moving and powerful track from acclaimed music group The Cinematic Orchestra titled ‘Manhatta’.

The campaign also includes a new creative direction for the brand’s paid, owned and earned content which marries imagery of products with bold statements inspired by life at home and home improvement. The creative direction follows a disruptive approach and celebrates B&Q’s famously orange look and feel.

The film airs from 10th September across TV and online. With an OOH campaign breaking later this month up and down the UK.