Baumann & DeGroot: Taking on Van DeVandervan

Baumann & DeGroot has been doing honest, local HVAC work in West Michigan since 1994. We helped them have a little fun with what makes them different.

The Story

West Michigan homeowners have options when their furnace goes out. Increasingly, those options include slick, well-funded chains that look local but aren’t. These are companies built around upselling, commissions, and a playbook imported from somewhere far from Holland, Michigan. Baumann & DeGroot is the opposite of that, and they wanted a bold campaign that poked fun at “Big HVAC,” reminding viewers that honesty matters.

Deliverables Overview

Campaign and character concepting
Scriptwriting, casting, and art development
Video production
Hulu and YouTube ad management

How We Worked Together

We created Van DeVandervan — a fast-talking, private equity-backed salesman for “Franchise & Sons.” Each video puts Van in a different situation: forcing his way into a home, checking his sales playbook mid-pitch, calling his tech from the office to talk him out of a repair and into a full replacement.

The character works because he’s instantly recognizable. Almost everyone has dealt with a salesman like Van — and that relatability is what makes the ads land. By lifting the veil on overly-slick sales tactics, the campaign made Baumann & DeGroot’s honest, no-pressure approach feel like exactly what it is: the better choice.

Ever feel like your salesperson is following a script? They probably are, and usually one that leads to more money. “The purchase playbook” explores what we’d think if we could actually see the script.

One thing we learned is that “Big HVAC” is a systemic problem, usually not tied to a service technician but inherent to the corporate structure of an aggressively profit-driven model. This spot hyperbolizes the behind-the-scenes pressure that creates a natural distrust for the industry.