IKEA normalises being off trend
Being late can be fashionable, as IKEA proves in its latest campaign that jumps back on bygone, half-forgotten trends.
IKEA has launched a knowingly-dated new campaign titled ‘Late to the Party’.
Created by Swedish agency Åkestam Holst NoA and directed by Lukas Östlund, the campaign features IKEA employees engaging in various viral social media challenges, such as the Ice Bucket Challenge and the Mannequin Challenge, to promote the company's loyalty programme.
Our take
In a world where even being even a week late to the latest social media trend can get you rejected from the cool kids’ gang, IKEA is leaning into the ultimate influencer faux pas… being a decade late!
The ads are well pitched for several reasons. IKEA, although much loved, has never been known for trendsetting: rather for bringing existing trends to us at lower prices. The ads therefore carry a knowing charm. IKEA embraces its market position and isn’t afraid to play up to it.
There’s also an amusing novelty in how even fairly recent social media trends can carry a palpable nostalgia. The ads act as a strangely kitsch memory hole, shining a bedside lamp on the breakneck speed of social media.
Keen to put itself at odds with this blink-and-you-missed-it culture, the ads highlight IKEA’s surprisingly timeless design pedigree. A quick Google search revealed that The Billy bookcase was introduced in 1979, and the Klippan sofa in 1980. This was a fairly surprising revelation/reminder, given that throughout my lifetime IKEA has been subject to ‘fast furniture’ accusations.
When IKEA dropped its controversial ‘Chuck out Your Chintz’ ad in 1996, I remember many scoffing traditionalists ridiculing the Swedish furniture manufacturer’s seemingly faddish alternative. Needless to say IKEA had the last laugh. We’ll Harlem Shuffle to that.
Credits
IKEA Sweden
Customer Engagement & Loyalty Manager: Michelle Gustafsson
Marketing Communication Leader: Mia Granath
NoA: Åkestam Holst
Art Director: Michal Sitkiewicz
Art Director: Eva Wallmark
Copywriter: Rickard Beskow
Client Director: Sophia Wattjersson
Account Manager: Agneta Oppenheim
Director/Editor: Lukas Östlund
Producer: Hanna Yngvel
Colourist: Carlos Diaz Carrasco
Final Art: Marie Wanberg
Planner: Sindra Liebe
Social Creative Strategist: Rosanna Hagald
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