Mud, music and brands: Living in the OTTO house at the Hurricane

How about watching Campino and the Toten Hosen, the Foo Fighters and the rapper Macklemore live from a whirlpool on your own roof terrace? Pretty cool, huh? OTTO makes it possible - living and partying at one of the biggest music festivals in Germany. The two-story OTTO house, located directly in front of the main stage of the popular festival, created a new and unique form of brand world.

Germany's first communal living at a festival - OTTO builds a home in front of the stage

It is the alternative to tent and Dixi-WC, which four friends Christina Knapp, Anna-Lena Nicolai, Christina Timm and Nora Eck had won through a social media contest. They moved into the OTTO house for three days as the first communal living at a festival in Germany. The private roof terrace with whirlpool or their own living room provided them with the best view of the main stage and numerous bands around just 50 metres away. The apartment was completely furnished with home and living articles from OTTO to match the brand orientation: No matter whether it's king-size beds, lounge furniture or Bluetooth speakers - all the furnishings are available at otto.de

We wanted to be the catchy tune of the festival - we came to be remembered," says Alexander Rohwer, Head of Strategy & Brand at OTTO. "We now have the opportunity to show an entire generation that today OTTO is different to what many still imagine and that it has a vast range of products for every occasion. We took advantage of this opportunity at the Hurricane”, Rohwer continued.

Festival services, influencers and for the first time, TikTok

The four friends were not the only ones to enter the OTTO house - all other festival visitors were also able to compete in various challenges to win access to the VIP area. As a reward there was an influencer party with guests like Jack Strify, Anne-Marie Berlin, Kevin Schertl or Angie of angeliquelini - including cool drinks and the best view of the main stage. Those who had had enough of celebrating could enjoy the festival services - a quiet zone with hammocks and charging stations for smartphones to really recharge all the batteries. #GenerationYEAH was extended via OTTO's digital marketing channels (including Instagram-TV). This was also the first time that the online retailer used TikTok, the social video app to share the craziest dance moves of the festival visitors.

Nationwide campaign and donations of furniture to refugees

The appearance at the Hurricane Festival is the prelude to OTTO's 70YEAH birthday campaign. The online retailer is to then launch a nationwide campaign in time to mark the occasion of its 70th birthday and so be present on all high-circulation channels. OTTO has donated most of the furniture from the Hurricane House to the Scheeßel local community, where it is used to furnish accommodation for refugees.