Hamster Renting: launching a new concept with one word

What if you want to launch a new concept but you can’t buy airtime or print ads? “Launch a new word” was the improbable answer in this case.

That’s the story behind “hamster renting”, a new form of hire purchase, invented by a Belgian property developer and constructor, Gilen. They offered people to use up to 5 years of rent as a down payment of their new house. A very welcome proposition in a difficult housing market.

The new word didn’t fail to capture the attention of the press, with the help of a well-crafted PR campaign by TBWA\Brussels. People began to search frantically for the new word on Google. And of course, this called for a landing page and a simple explainer video to elucidate the proposition.

As an Art Director, I developed the storyboard to the smallest details and I closely supervised the overall animation design. Up to today, nor the message nor the design has lost its appeal. And the word itself received a mention as Word Of The Year by reputed Dutch dictionary Van Dale in 2017.