Sharps advert: Sisters launches It’s What’s Inside That Counts, directed by Molly Manners

Sharps, the fitted bedroom furniture company, has launched a new brand campaign, It’s What’s Inside That Counts, with a film about two young sisters who are separated when they move into rooms of their own. Made by the agency Neverland and directed by the BAFTA winner Molly Manners, it went on air on Monday in 60 and 30-second versions, as Decision Marketing reported.

What happens in the Sharps advert

The film, called Sisters, follows the two girls after a wall goes up between their bedrooms. They keep finding ways to talk to each other and sneak between the rooms, and the made-to-measure wardrobes on either side of the wall become the thing that keeps them connected. The score is an original piece by Raphael Fimm.

Medialab planned the media, a mix of traditional TV and addressable video on Sky, Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. The campaign comes with a refreshed visual identity, a new Design Studio concept for its showrooms, and direct response TV and social. Chief marketing officer Ben Hitchcock said that in a category that worries about how things look on the outside, “we know it’s what’s inside that matters most”.

Why it matters

Fitted furniture advertising has historically been one of the most formulaic categories on British television: a showroom, a price, a deadline. Sharps has gone for emotion instead, and the line does double duty, describing both the product, which is all about the inside of a wardrobe, and the story. It is a rare example of a promotional category trying to build a brand.

The timing is deliberate. October is when home and gifting brands start spending for the winter, and Sharps is competing with retailers who are putting more money into TV this year rather than less. For a brand that sells something people buy once a decade, being remembered is the whole job.