IKEA SHIFTS FOCUS FROM FURNITURE TO FATHERS

Memac Ogilvy launched a special campaign for Father’s Day for IKEA Al-Futtaim.

The campaign tapped into the insight that parents in the UAE spend only 30 minutes with their their children on a daily basis.

Shifting their focus from furniture to fathers, the campaign did away with the traditional price tags, instead replacing them with “assembly hours” on select products.

The “assembly hours” are portrayed to be hours that fathers could spend with their kids building furniture together, while enjoying some bonding time.

According to the brand, “building furniture comes naturally to many dads” and it invites everyone to gift their father the time spent building the furniture and emotional connections.

The ads are complete with the tagline, “This father’s day, build more than just furniture”.

IKEA: family first, brand second

The brand in the recent years has adapted its marketing messaging to become more family-focused and family-first.

Last year, IKEA Al-Futtaim even won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions for its “Proudly Second-Best” campaign.

The campaign saw the furniture take a back seat showing how the brand’s popular furniture such as chairs could never out perform its competitor, the comfy lap of the parent.

The visuals showed many such situations where the child opted for their parent over the furniture, positioning the parent as the best while IKEA remains “proudly” the second best.

In a similar vein, another recent campaign from the brand saw it place a greater importance on pets, who are often akin to family in many households.

It showcased its products again in a state not usually seen in advertisements, broken. Posters revealed broken bots, vases and mugs, next to an obvious furry culprit.

The ads then place the pet first, saying it’s okay that IKEA products are affordable enough to easily replace.

The brands take a clever route to communicate its properties while keeping human connections in the spotlight.

2024-06-27T13:54:41Z dg43tfdfdgfd