You have to love this ad for its wit. For its intention. And because not every great retailer ad has to ask you to buy something.
Ikea imagines what it would have been like if the 21st century’s trend of recording your food to get a bunch of likes before you actually eat it, had happened in the 17th century.
The 17th century is gorgeous to look at. (Remember Beyonce’s ad for O2? OK, she helped to create its visual splendour too.)
This ad’s creative and production company, Acne Stockhom, and directors, Tompa & Rondo (aka Tomas Skoging and Filip Nilsson), put the visual splendour asset to great use and the film was shot in Budapest.
The moral of the story in which, before the family can eat their dinner, the patriarch orders it to be painted on a canvas and carried throughout the town to elicit likes the pre-FB/Instagram/Twitter way, is for people to relax and rediscover the simple joy of cooking and eating at home with the family.
“It’s a meal. Not a competition,” the ad concludes.
Acne creative director, Johan Holmgren, commented, “We’ve arrived at a moment in time where the expectations we bring with us into the kitchen hold us back from what we might like to do. Not only expectations that others put upon us, but also those which we put upon ourselves when we believe that we have to present a ‘perfect’ image of ourselves online.”
The ad was released with both Ikea’s 3rd annual Life at Home lifestyle report and its 2017 catalogue.
“We are always curious about people’s lives. In a world that is constantly changing, it becomes increasingly important to understand more about new ways of living and what is important for people’s perception of a good life at home. IKEA wants to be a catalyst for change by having an even better understanding of people’s emotional and personal attachment to their homes,” noted Mikael Ydholm, research manager at IKEA Sweden, in his Life at Home report statement.
Credits:
Creative and production agency: ACNE
Creative director: Johan Holmgren
Executive producer: David Olsen
Directors: Tompa & Rondo
Producer: Fredrik Skoglund
DoP: Anders Jedenfors
Art director: Cecilia Dufils
Copywriter: Markus Bjurman
Creatives: Fredrik Preisler & Katie Copeland
Head of planning: Morten Lundholm
Project manager: Mia Malmström
Final Art: Oliver Juan
Client: IKEA
Creative director: Morten Kjaer