Ikea says be frugal in apocalyptic ad promoting green living
You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative from the brands that should be on your radar. Today, we look at Ikea's eco-focused campaign, in lieu of a festive spot.
Ikea promotes sustainable living, in lieu of festive spot
While 2019 saw Ikea's first Christmas ad, starring grime-spitting kitsch ornaments, this time round the retailer bypassed the festivities altogether. Reallocating its ad spend into its sustainability efforts instead, Ikea enters 2021 with an eco-focused campaign that makes clear what it holds dear.
Perfectly alliterate, 'Fortune Favours the Frugal' spells out Ikea's commitment to the circular economy, by inspiring people to think differently about the benefits of living a life of moderation over a life of excess.
Created by Mother London, the spot opens with a meteor-shaped ball of trash hurtling towards Earth. A cause for concern no doubt, as the rock descends, a newsreader ominously tells the viewer that climate experts are suggesting that time has run out in the fight against climate change.
But, just as the viewer is considering putting themselves into the recycling bin, the mood lightens as a child places 'Make it Better' into her cassette player and clicks play, and The Barons' funky riff engages people to action.
The film then turns to people making frugal changes to their consumption habits, such as pickling out-of-date onions, reusing waste water to hydrate the kitchen herbs, or choosing to dry their clothes on a rack instead of resorting to a dryer machine - all the while, showcasing how Ikea's products can make you more resourceful.
And, each time a conscious consumer chooses to recycle or reuse, the impending rock of rubbish breaks down in size, to show how much waste can be saved by taking these positive steps. Poof goes a plastic pickle bottle. There goes your dryer. Bye bye plastic bags. Ultimately all that's left is a lonesome plastic bottle that lands to Earth - only to be recycled moments later in a strategically fitted Ikea recycling unit.
This is the latest line of work Mother has delivered for Ikea - a relationship it embarked on back in 2010. Last year, it reimagined Aesop's fable - 'The Tortoise and the Hare' - to highlight the importance of sleep.
That sleep-focused work was followed by 'Tonight is to sleep' whereby Mother dreamt up a beautiful way to illustrate the healing properties of Ikea’s sleep range, which will leave you tempted to take a nap.
The blue and yellow temple of hotdogs and tiny pencils, Ikea has in recent years blended its branding, becoming steadily greener, by placing time and effort into refining its approach to sustainability. It has an ultimate aim of becoming fully circular as a business by 2030, which means its needs to ensure 100% of the materials used to make its 12,000-strong product catalogue are made from recycled and recyclable materials.
For its constant creativity and sustainbility work, Ikea was celebrated in this year's New Year Honors list - the time of year where The Drum looks back at the agencies, the brands, the organisations, movements and trends that have shaped the year. And 2020 was a year like no other.