For most buyers a mortgage is the heaviest part of buying a home. It feels like debt, and it ends at the front door: the keys come with bare walls, and furniture, appliances and the move itself are still to be paid for. Samolet, one of Russia's two largest developers, launched Možnoteka, a mortgage you can fill with everything a new home needs: furniture, appliances, a fitted kitchen, the move, carsharing, a storage unit and decor, all in the price of the apartment. As brand director, I led the launch from the name and the idea to the film, the modular campaign and a festival activation in four cities.
Možnoteka joins two Russian words: možno, "you can", and ipoteka, "mortgage". The name answers the buyer's question before it is asked: can I have the furniture too, and the kitchen, and help with the move? You can. For the English version, the same trick becomes Maygage: may + mortgage.
The campaign is built on one line. Every character asks "May I…?" and the answer is always "You may." A man on the sofa asks for a mortgage without leaving home. A couple wants more furniture and a bigger bed. A young woman dreams of a dark green kitchen, and it assembles itself around her. A mother looks for room for everything the family owns, and a storage unit appears. Boxes unpack on their own, and a family walks into a finished home.
We shot the magic practically. The sofa was pulled out of the set on cables and the shot run in reverse, so it flies into the room. Top shots and in-camera transitions carry the story from one wish to the next, with graphics only where they help.
Možnoteka is modular, and so is the campaign. One question and a set of product tiles assemble into any length and any format: a 49-second film, three 20-second spots, 10- and 5-second spots for each service, TV versions, online video in 16:9 and 9:16, and 4:5 social. The tiles swap like the product itself: apartment, furniture, kitchen, carsharing, moving, storage, decor and health insurance. The shortest spot is five seconds: one character, one wish, one answer.
Samolet brought Možnoteka to a major open-air music festival as it toured four cities: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok and Sochi. Možno [Possibility] Land was a themed zone where visitors could try the Možnoteka life for themselves: interactive games, personalised experiences and a giant blue fur cat from the campaign to lie on. Over one summer, the zone welcomed 180,000 visitors.
liked the film in a pretest with 300 respondents
found it interesting
found it clear
called it unique
