Published on
February 19, 2024
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There are some things you shouldn’t try at home.
There’s even a really insightful a documentary about things you shouldn’t try at home. It’s called Jackass.
But in McCann Spain’s first spot for IKEA’s since winning the global pitch, we are whisked through a variety of scenes featuring people living their dreams in their own homes - things you SHOULD try at home.
👺 Causing mischief with a cardboard box
🕹️ Getting into a long gaming sesh
🍜 Cooking without following a recipe
This sounds like a pretty mundane list, but this has the makings of an excellent Sunday afternoon as far as I’m concerned.
Nothing new under the sun, apparently. IKEA’s research showed that…
60% of people feel positive about their current life at home
52% say their home is their favourite place
40% are worried about household finances and disposable income
So the challenge in this brief must have been around making the home feel like the antithesis to discretionary spending. If you can have all the fun, entertainment and mischief you could ask for at home, why would you need to spend lots going out. Especially with IKEA’s low low prices enabling those dreams on a dime.
The creative challenge, on the other hand, would have revolved around tackling this in a way that feels fresh. “Home is cheaper” is far from the most innovative insight, so McCann and IKEA had to find a way to avoid sounding like a parent telling their kid, “We’ve got McDonald’s at home.”
Their answer feels like a strong one - you can get up to real mischief at home. It’s your space, you can make and break the rules.
In Emiliano González De Pietri’s poetic words, CCO at McCann Worldgroup Spain,
The ad elevates the role of the home from “a mere container of our lives to that of enabler of our dreams”.
Oh, this ad was going so well. Too well.
But there are three taglines in this spot.
“Do try this at home”
“Home can do it”
And a rogue, third tagline seemed to have crept in - with the hallmarks of a push from on-high executives. It’s lumped in at the end, and it tries to say the strategy out loud, without the nuance or subtlety the rest of the ad tries to capture.
“Afford to rebel”.
This is, for me, the only miss of the ad. It might be translated differently by the time this ad hits the UK, but as a quasi-CTA, I just don’t get it. What does it cost to rebel? And what if I can’t afford to rebel? IKEA telling me to just “afford” it doesn’t help me any.
This is pure speculation, but to me this reeks of a late-stage addition. And honestly, one that should have been shot down. This kind of thing is why we bang on about nailing the brief. If this line wasn’t important enough to be in the brief (or to have come up at an earlier stage), why is it there at all?
This is the Briefly Breakdown, a weekly series where we take a look at the strategy behind the latest and greatest work in the industry. Check back here for more insights to come.