Ikea marketing manager Peter Wright says the retailer’s new advert is a “step change” from its previous campaigns.
However, it seems that with the ad the retailer has simply tweaked a successful formula that retains the staple imaginative visuals, while tightening the creative focus.
Concentrating on individual rooms rather than cramming in as many design styles as possible, the advert highlights the functionality of Ikea’s products with everyday activities in the home.
The TV ad, created by agency Mother, tells the story of a family making the table for lunch guests and sitting down to eat through the eyes of a little girl.
Initially it appears to depict a fantasy children’s party, complete with toy robots and teddy bears the size of people, but then the ad pans to a mirror to reveal the fantastic characters were the parents and their friends all along.
Shot in the style of a music video – much like Ikea’s recent ‘You’ll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties’ campaign – the ad bounces along to a pop soundtrack, but unlike its popular predecessor it is set in a single kitchen, showing off the room’s features in a colourful, child-like way, such as a magnetic robot attracting knives and forks out of a kitchen drawer.
Ikea’s advertising has always been more colourful and inspired than some of its competitors’ work, though the danger has been that the sparkle and abundance of creative detail in the ads would overshadow the homewares that Ikea aims to promote. But by focusing on fewer designs, Ikea has managed to position its products more clearly in the foreground without sacrificing its imaginative ad style.
No comments yet