Ikea makes old products new again in magical holiday spot
The latest holiday spot from Ikea Canada highlights reusing Ikea products and making them new again, set in the context of an uplifting family story that hints that dreams might be behind an old piece of furniture.
Ikea Canada's magical holiday spot
Like the retailer’s last brand spot, ‘Lamp 2’, this ad, ‘Magic Man’, also tells a story about prolonging the life of an Ikea product by reimagining the furniture’s purpose. In ‘Lamp 2’, a little girl sees the potential in a lamp that’s been left out for the garbage. In ‘Magic Man’, the reused product is a shelving unit, but the story is vastly different.
We see a multigenerational family gathered together to watch a young boy’s attempt at magic. As his deck of cards cascades to the floor, we realize he has not perfected his craft. That scene repeats itself several times, and the young trickster appears dejected after his failed attempts. The grandfather sees a solution, however. He goes into the garage and pulls out the shelving unit, a Kallax. He attaches a custom door, a fresh coat of paint and wheels, and voila, it becomes a magician’s cabinet. The boy, smiling, then completes his first successful trick.
At a time of the year when expenses are at their highest, sometimes the most meaningful gifts are homemade and from the heart, and Ikea’s sustainable push shows that its products can have a second life.
Ikea states that it believes in a sustainable future and has made the bold commitment to be a fully circular business by 2030. For the company, circularity means designing products with re-use, repair, repurposing and recycling in mind from the beginning, using only renewable, recycled, and recyclable materials, eliminating waste and connecting with its customers in new ways to give products a longer life.
To support a more circular business, Ikea Canada recently launched a sell-back program, where customers nationwide have the opportunity to sell gently-used goods back to the store, in return for an Ikea gift card. Since the soft launch just over a week ago, Ikea has seen more than 1,000 online submissions from customers who are looking to give products a second life. The program is hosted within the Ikea family loyalty program.
The ‘Magic Man’ spot is a continuation of Ikea Canada’s purpose-led ‘Beautiful Possibilities’ platform. The multi-generational family in the spot represents a way that many Canadians live today, taking care of young children and aging parents. Upbeat music is used to tell the story, this time with the playful Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo song as a playful soundtrack.
