Ikea ads stress big ideas, little furniture
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, December 3, 2001
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — The young man in the new Ikea commercial is in a Chinese restaurant reading the fortune in his fortune cookie.
"Love is sitting right in front of you," it says. He looks up and sees a big, burly man looking back at him with a noodle hanging out of his mouth. Then he looks to the right and sees a beautiful woman seductively staring back at him.
He quickly folds the fortune to read, "Love is right of you."
The spot is part of a new multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that uses such everyday stories — but next to no furniture — to convey a message about the power of simple changes and how Ikea can be a vehicle for such changes in the home.
Ikea is betting $40 million to $50 million on the new campaign with a series of ads created by Minneapolis-based Carmichael Lynch. Ads have begun to appear on television, magazines, billboards, the Internet and direct mail.
For the first time, the Top 100 company also will use in-theater advertising spots and a New York Times Square video television board.
"These ads use real-life situations to demonstrate that small changes can make a big difference, and that you can easily and affordably change the look and feel of your home," said Gina Raiser, advertising manager of Ikea North America, with 15 stores in the United States and eight in Canada.
While all four TV spots conclude with a quick montage of Ikea merchandise, to be rotated seasonally with prices listed, only one commercial actually features furniture as part of the story.
In the "Lowrider" commercial, an elderly couple is seen waiting at a traffic light, listening to oldies tunes, when a car pulls up filled with teen-agers moving to the sounds of hip hop. The older man and a teen exchange wary glances then smile, while the camera moves out and the viewer sees that the same Ikea sofa — in different colors — is strapped on top of both cars.
The spot ends with the words "Find your style" superimposed on the screen, then the montage of Ikea products.
The print ads are completely devoid of Ikea product. One, titled "Change something," is a call to action showing a Swedish-looking woman dressed in a red-and-white checkered blouse seated at a red-and-white checkered table in a room with the same pattern and color on the curtains and a large framed poster.
Another, called "It's your world," shows an elderly woman unclothed (although strategically covered) sitting near a row of plain white houses broken up by the one right behind her, which is painted with an image of Botticelli's Venus.
"By not using product in the ad, we're empowering (the consumer) to use their imagination," Raiser said. "The theme is actually powerful enough to stand on its own and it doesn't have to rely on the product."
| Ikea's "Lowrider" TV commercial shows shoppers of diverse ages and backgrounds. |
| The end of the "Lowrider" ad shows how Ikea furniture can appeal to people with seemingly different tastes. |
