DDB Brussels launched a campaign for IKEA taking a look at one often overlooked aspect of the Swedish chain’s popular catalogue: the models. And not just the blonde ones!
The spot takes a tongue-in-cheek approach, introducing the models as the catalogue’s “real stars” while they talk about how they’ll now be famous. It’s all done in a deadpan mockumentary format, with one model claiming “I don’t think there’s any way I’m going to get away with not being recognized by…everyone.”
“There’s a lot of pressure on me to be the best man shaver I can be,” says another model, posing in a bathroom scene, who adds that he told his child, “Listen son, dad’s famous now.”
When it actually comes time for them to pose for their scenes, the actors are asked to kindly move away from the center of the frame. One woman is asked to turn completely around completely, while another ponders how she could become the face of the brand, as her face is being blurred out from the scene in post production.
The comical spot takes an approach somewhat similar in tone to such predecessors as Mother London’s “The Wonderful Everyday” campaign , BBH Asia Pacific’s “Recipes for Delicious Kitchens,” and, of course, that agency’s 2014 spot promoting the catalogue by asking viewers to “Experience the power of a bookbook.” DDB Brussels’ new effort changes up the formula just enough to seem fresh while sticking to what has worked for the brand in the past. It’s also something of a humble brag (hmm, maybe just a regular brag, actually) for the brand’s success, as it is reiterated by the models multiple times the catalogue will be seen by 220 million people. The brand’s furniture, meanwhile, is continuously featured in the background, and then the foreground as the spot reaches its conclusion.
Just don’t try to put any of it together while tripping on acid.