Husqvarna: Grass Like a Carpet

In the US, having a big lawn is a source of contentment – until it comes time to mow that lawn. But ask anyone in Sweden or Europe how they feel about their lawn, and you will not find that mutual feeling of burden.

Why? Likely due to the really popular Automower products by Husqvarna. Essentially, the Automower is a robot that will mow your lawn for you (kind of how a Roomba cleans your floors for you). Their innovative intelligence technology lets them sense when your lawn needs tending and they’ll automatically depart their stations to go take care of the lawn.

We collaborated with agency of record for Husqvarna, House DDB, on a commercial to launch the Automower in North America.

Capitalizing on the popularity of the Roomba in North America, DDB sought to make a direct comparison between the two products to drum up the same hype for the mower.

The comparison was to be an obvious one, with the commercial depicting an Automower mowing the inside of a home, where instead of carpet, there was grass. The familiarity of a robot gliding its way around a home would strike a chord with the North American audience.

To achieve our commercial, we placed a focus on how quietly the device functions by using little to no audio and a whispered voiceover. We also hooked the audience by structuring the commercial so that it was hard to tell if they were outside or inside at first, with the truth slowly being revealed via wider camera angles.

Husqvarna desired the use of natural grass versus Astroturf, so we sourced Empress Zosia grass palettes and made a plan to cover a home in it the day prior to the shoot.

As luck would have it, an unexpected cold front in the area killed the bulk of the grass we were set to use.

Thinking quickly, our animation team suggested color-correcting the dead grass in post-production to make it look as good as new.

This commercial spearheaded the launch of Automower in North America and was shown in retail stores selling the product, online, and broadcast TV.

We are really proud of the post-production work that was done to color correct the grass, which you can see below.

Artex – our Los Angeles-based video production company – was responsible for the treatment, production, and post-production for this project.