Ikea is carving out a nice little niche allaying the neuroses of pack rats—also, normal people who just have too much crap cluttering up their lives.
This new spot from the Swedish furniture retailer and ad agency Mother London tells the story of a nouveau bohemian couple trapped in a materialistic nightmare, kept from each by towering walls of books, zines, throw pillows, wicker chairs and other found objects. Ikea's storage products act as the savior, letting these beleaguered lovers find each other among all their shoes. Woe is having too many cherry-red high-heel pumps and no nifty rack on which to organize them.
It's done in a spirit consistent with the rest of the agency's work for the brand: slightly absurd but irresistibly charming. The melodrama of the opening shot is humorously dark—it's hard to get the sense that it's taking itself too seriously. The whole spot hangs on the music, a new rendition of "Living Together" by U.K. band An Escape Plan. (The original BeeGees version really would not have the same effect.) The brand, agency and director Adam Berg also produced a full-length music video—basically a 2:20 version of the ad—for the track, which the band appears to have arranged in response to a brief for the spot but is included on their upcoming EP release. That sort of deal is part of the increasingly conventional wisdom that working with indie musicians is the way for brands to seduce a generation of young consumers—in particular, young homeowners—as well as a way for indie artists to actually get paid for their work.
The subtext is a nice appeal to those yuppie types who have tired of the haphazard collegiate aesthetic that results from acquiring the majority of one's furniture off the sidewalk, at thrift stores or by neglecting throw out what a rental's previous inhabitant left behind. Now you can graduate to matching particle-board sets. Real furniture is for your 40s and 50s.
Of course, when you kick one of those fold-out futon beds, it doesn't magically swing open to the delight of your partner. It just hurts your foot.
CREDITS
Client: Ikea
Agency: Mother, London
Director: Adam Berg
Production Company: Stink
Producer: Ben Croker
Editor: Paul Hardcastle
Post/VFX Co.: MPC
VFx Producer: Marianna Bruynseels
VFX Supervisor: Franck Lambertz, Ludo Fealy
Grade: Mark Gethin
Audio/Sound Design: 750mph
DOP: Mattias Montero
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