The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2022
IKEA made a 90s reality show to sell its new range
McCann Madrid put Gen Z in a no-IKEA 90s house as a reality show, so IKEA's new products are the escape won in challenges.
IKEA Iberia
the move
IKEA hit its 25th year in Spain, so the brand could build an idea on a generation that had never known Spanish life without IKEA.
McCann Madrid put six of these IKEA natives in a 1990s house - a nightmare of an explosive stove, heavy itchy blankets, smoky mirrors, rotary phones and dim lamps.
Each challenge won access to an IKEA paradise, where new IKEA products are the reward. That dramatizes the functional benefit of modern living and shows the range in use rather than advertising it.
It exploded in Spain and took Graphite and Wood Pencils at D&AD plus a Silver Cannes Lion; the D&AD jury called it content to commerce that inspired buying without feeling like a sale.
why it works
- Deprivation makes the product's benefit visceral.
- Making the new range the prize means desire is shown, not asserted.
- A reality-show premise earns attention beyond the ad slot.
- Juries rewarded content that generated commerce without a sales pitch.
what transfers
Do not interrupt people with your product; make it the reward inside a story they want to watch. When the thing you sell is the prize, desire is shown rather than claimed.
what came after
Trapped in the 90s won Graphite and Wood Pencils at D&AD and a Silver Cannes Lion, took Gold at Spain's Eficacia Awards, and became a cited model of entertainment-to-commerce for a retailer.
references
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