Ikea, the home furnishings giant, and its agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, are hoping their current TV campaign—the first out of the shop since winning the account earlier this year—will make Americans think more like Bahamians.
"Statistically, Americans have the same number of coffee tables in a lifetime as they do spouses," notes Alex Bogusky, creative director at CP+B. "Our commitment to furniture is enormous and, basically, we expect to die with any piece we buy."
Other categories, from beer to watches to cars, have become fashion categories, he says, with consumers gladly dropping last year’s hot item for what’s trendy this year. But not furniture. "People here just don’t approach furniture as a fashion category at all," Bogusky continues. "But in the Bahamas, people tend to redo their homes every year, with ‘this year’s’ colors and styles. It’s another culture."
Because Ikea’s offerings tend to be a little bit more fashionable, more trendy, the American concept of "furniture for life" is a bit of a problem. The first two Ikea spots from CP+B carry the tagline "unböring" and scold viewers a bit for irrational feelings regarding home furnishings. In "Lamp," directed by Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), the camera follows a young woman who puts an old table lamp out by the trash cans on a dark, rainy day and then plops down in an easy chair with her new lamp. As melancholy music plays, the old lamp seems to look forlornly into her bright living room.
The punch line comes when a somewhat ascetic-looking gentleman walks into the frame, faces the camera and says in a Swedish accent: "Many of you feel bad for this lamp. That is because you [are] crazy. It has no feelings and the new one is much better."
In "Moo Cow Milker," directed by Clay Williams of MJZ, similar emotions are generated for a china creamer in the shape of a cow that is shattered in a moment of passion. The same Swede again chides the viewer for becoming emotionally attached to a "tacky" item that can be replaced easily at Ikea.
"We’re saying you don’t have to have boring things," Bogusky explains. "There is an inertia that keeps things in people’s lives, in this category of furnishings. We’re trying to free people from those feelings. We found that what works best is to go right at them and try to create those feelings, and once we created them point out, ‘Aren’t they silly?’ People laugh and think, ‘Gosh you’re right.’ "
Both spots evolved during the production process, Bogusky says, with a lot of input coming from Jonze and Williams. "Jonze really sparked at ‘Lamp’ and wanted to do it," notes Bogusky. "He loved the idea of trying to make you feel for this inanimate object. He loved that challenge. Clay really liked the other one and it worked out perfectly. We kept the same crew together and shot them back to back."
CP+B doesn’t do storyboards, only scripts, so the spots gave both directors leeway in shooting. "Lamp" didn’t change too much, except that there was more head put on the story," Bogusky says. "In the original agency script it started with the lamp being put out on the curb. Spike wanted to start earlier so you saw the separation. And it worked out. And that spot garnered more scale throughout the production. We imagined it smaller, without cars driving by."
"Moo Cow Milker" evolved, too, with the creamer replacing a china tea set. "It was less about trying to make you feel for the china and more about how it’s OK to be free to throw things to the ground," he explains. "They should be there for you, not the other way around. Then we decided to make it more like ‘Lamp.’ "
In addition to Bogusky, agency credits include Paul Keister, associate creative director, Ari Merkin, copywriter, Rupert Samuel, senior producer, and Mark Taylor, art director, with additional art direction from Steve Mapp on "Lamp."
Second Act
The next round of spots, which just broke, expands the theme to "shop unböring," replacing the taciturn Swede with scenes of an Ikea showroom. Three new spots directed by feature filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore), recently broke. (Anderson is repped for spotwork by Moxie Pictures, New York.) The ads, which include "Kitchen" and "Living Room," illustrate how accessible Ikea showrooms are. For example, in "Living Room" a teenage girl and her mother are sitting on obviously fashionable furnishing when the young girl announces that she’s pregnant. Her parents then begin to argue, only to be interrupted by an Ikea salesman who wants to know what the trio thinks of the package.
Anderson got the nod, in part, because the spots are more dialogue-driven than the first two. "Everyone is a huge fan of Wes Anderson," Bogusky says. Anderson didn’t write any of the scripts, but he did kick in some thoughts in fine-tuning them. "On the set we were all messing around a bit. He actually tries to stay pretty close to what’s written."
The new spots continue to be more "brand" spots than retail ads, but there are products shown on the Ikea floor. "We don’t try to use TV to drive sales of a product," Bogusky says. "You’ll see product, but it’s more to show they have beautiful products at low prices than to say ‘You ought to get this.’ This will be the Ikea experience in the store. The way you are allowed to use their showroom is extremely interactive. They don’t mind if you take naps on a piece of furniture. We wanted to play on that and take some broader ground from a brand point of view, that we’re a life-at-home company, not just a furnishings company." The spots are set to run through the holidays, but they aren’t keyed to the season.
Next year, tentative plans are to return to a message more like the first two spots, but Bogusky is uncertain about whether to bring back the Swedish character, played by Jonas Forlander, who delivers the punch lines. The agency originally tried to cast the part in Sweden and found some people it liked, but logistical problems got in the way of bringing someone over for the shoots. "We did another casting [sesson] in L.A.," Bogusky says. "We found him, and as soon as he came on, everybody cracked up. He’s good, but it’s not like he’s acting. That’s him. It’s funny how many people just like that guy.";
