Expat domestic workers are employed in many homes in the Middle East, but it is a segment that the home furniture and furnishing category, in general, has always left out.
To understand the living spaces of domestic workers, furniture retailer Home Box asked 329 domestic workers about their favourite places in the homes they work in. Out of all the places they spoke about, one space remained unmentioned, hidden from view: their own room.
This insight inspires ‘The Hidden Room’, a short film by Leo Burnett Dubai about four women – Wasanti, Melat, Queenie and Resha. Like many domestic workers, they have come to the Middle East from all over the world, and are living away from their own families.
Many domestic workers are employed in towering skyscrapers and big villas, but their rooms remain very small spaces – typically 7 feet x 10 feet, but sometimes even smaller. To address this issue in a sensitive way, Home Box partnered with Leo Burnett Dubai to launch “The Hidden Room Collection” – a specially curated collection, designed in collaboration with Home Box’s design team.
The Hidden Room Collection provides beautifully designed furniture and furnishing items for the small spaces where domestic workers typically live. It launched over the weekend during Eid al- Adha, one of the biggest shopping periods of the year.
A second film shows how The Hidden Room Collection transforms small rooms by adding smart storage solutions, enlivened with prints, textures, and colours.
Both films direct people to The Hidden Room website, where people can shop for The Hidden Room Collection from Home Box stores across the Middle East.
“It has been incredibly rewarding working with the design team at Home Box to launch The Hidden Room Collection,” explains Tahaab Rais, chief strategy officer, Publicis Groupe Middle East & Turkey. “While we cannot change the size of domestic workers’ rooms, we can advocate for smart
living solutions and we are proud to have contributed to such a meaningful initiative across the Gulf region.”
Client: Home Box
Creative agency: Leo Burnett Dubai
Production company: Liwa Content.Driven
Ajay Antal, chief executive officer, Home Box
Kunal Kapoor, marketing manager, Home Box
Shahzeen Rizvi, digital marketing specialist omni-channel, Home Box
Bassel Kakish, chief executive officer, Publicis Groupe ME&T
Kalpesh Patankar, chief creative officer and creative direction, Leo Burnett Dubai
Tahaab Rais, chief strategy officer, Publicis Groupe ME&T
Tahaab Rais, film director, story and sound design
Shereen Mostafa, head of production, Leo Burnett Dubai
Sagar rege, executive producer, Liwa Content.Driven
Aeyaz, DoP and cinematography
Aunindo Sen, senior creative director, copywriter, Leo Burnett Dubai
Kapil Bhimekar, creative director and art direction, Leo Burnett Dubai
Paurav Shah, senior copywriter and dialogues, Leo Burnett Dubai
Smit Agrawal, creative
Vaibhava Bhatnagar, creative
Remy Haddad, 1st AD
Neda Zag, editor, Cold Cutz
Karim Mira, grading and colorist, LZRD
Khushboo Sawlani, strategic and creative excellence designer
Asma Zaghdoud, account manager, Leo Burnett Dubai
Nadine Raad, account manager, Leo Burnett Dubai
Shane Vessaoukar, executive producer, Liwa Content.Driven
Neha Jaswani, production coordinator, Liwa Content.Driven
Charbel Zgheib, production designer, Liwa Content.Driven
Puja Chatterjee, account director, Liwa Content.Driven
Nishqa Pillai, account manager, Liwa Content.Driven
Shoaib Ischtiyak, Nikhil Soman, Talal Dakkak, post-production, Liwa Content.Driven
Raed Hakim, client operations director
Sheni Meledath, senior manager – digital delivery
Venkat Krish, senior user experience specialist
Soundtrack: ‘art of silence’ by uniq featuring onio
