Household furnishings retailer IKEA is, in many ways, ideally suited to service a town like San Francisco, which opened an IKEA on April 12.
And few seem better qualified to direct an IKEA spot than Cheryl Van Ooyen, group creative director at Deutsch, New York. Van Ooyen made her directorial debut on the :60 "San Francisco Grand Opening," which promotes the client’s Bay Area launch.
Van Ooyen has overseen the IKEA account since she joined Deutsch nearly three years ago. She helped create the client’s "Makeover" campaign, in which three characters known as the IKEA guys redo various interiors. That premise has lent itself to makeovers of a subway car and an operating room (the spots "Subway" and "O.R." were directed by Mark Pellington through Crossroads Films, bcioastal and Chicago; he has since joined bicoastal/international Propaganda Films—see p. 1 story). Around eight months ago, directing duo Dayton/Faris of bicoastal Bob Industries helmed spots in which IKEA updated classic TV show settings: a hut on Gilligan’s Island and the house on The Brady Bunch.
"With all these directors, I’ve just been secretly sucking the marrow out of their bones, studying them," said Van Ooyen. "I’ve always known directing is something I wanted to start doing. From then on, I was kind of looking [for an opportunity]. Deutsch was excited about having me start directing, which is rare."
That opportunity came when Van Ooyen and associate creative director/copywriter David Rosen, associate creative director/art director Scott Bassen and producer Bruce Andreini were teamed to work on ads for IKEA’s San Francisco launch. Given the spot’s small budget, Van Ooyen’s close relationship with the client and her familiarity with the campaign, it was agreed that she was the ideal choice for director.
Rosen said of Van Ooyen, "She’s always thinking of [camera] angles and shots, and she’s great at sharpening the jokes and humor in a script."
The spot plays off the tagline "Something for everyone." It opens with a panning shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, which comes to rest on the three IKEA guys in their jump-
suits, surveying the view on a hill. Subsequent scenes show them lifting a woman who’s
seated in lotus position in a park and setting her down on a comfy chair; finding a lost-dog notice tacked to a pole and replacing it with a glass-framed version. A Hare Krishna offers a flower, which is returned to him in a tasteful vase. A tossed frisbee is snatched up by an IKEA guy and used as a plate to complete a dinner setting at a park table. A wino’s bottle in a paper bag is taken away and replaced with a wine rack. As a considerate touch, the paper bag is also placed on the wine rack.
In what’s purported to be Alcatraz (although it wasn’t filmed there), one IKEA guy who has just finished redecorating a jail cell is locked in by his fun-loving IKEA cohorts. In another bit, the IKEA guys sail down a steep hill on a couch with wheels. Perhaps the funniest sequence depicts a mime doing a sidewalk performance; the IKEA guys put a large, cardboard IKEA box over the mime, which produces a round of applause among onlookers.
"San Francisco has always been a mecca for individuality and personal freedom, and we thought about tying IKEA into that," said Van Ooyen. "It came down to the idea of IKEA having something for everyone … that it’s not just about the
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The spot was produced through Jones Films, Deutsch’s in-house production unit. Deutsch’s head of production Jim Frame served as the spot’s executive producer, and assembled a top-notch crew, including DP Toby Irwin and line producer Tim Mack.
"Even though [IKEA] is something I knew, this job was probably the biggest shoot I’ve ever been on," said Van Ooyen, who described it as three crazy days of locations, including one "run-and-gun" day of shooting.
Despite the tight schedule, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for Van Ooyen—even when the couch that was supposed to roll down the hill didn’t perform quite as expected. It was propelled from behind by a stuntman on a go-cart, but ultimately, some split-screen post trickery was required to make the couch roll in sync with a bicyclist riding beside it. Said Van Ooyen, "We couldn’t get that many takes of it without pieces [of the couch] flying off—which is not a good way to sell a couch."
The spot was cut by editor Jon Smallheiser at Three Fingered Louie, New York, where credits also go to assistant editor Shane DeBlasio and executive producer Lynne Mannino. Additional post credits go to colorist Victor Mulholland at Post Perfect, New York, and colorist Clark Muller at Riot, Santa Monica. Doug Diamon was online editor at Sony Music Studios, New York. The music was composed by John Luker at Musikvergnuegen, Hollywood, and the audio was mixed at East Side Mix by Tom Goldblatt.
