As we gear up for the 2018 holiday season, the team behind IKEA’s newest holiday ad gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how they brought the concept of “home” to life through the lens of diversity, from both the client and agency perspectives. Della Mathew (group creative director, Ogilvy), Leslie Stone (director, planning services, Ogilvy) and Christine Whitehawk (external communications manager, IKEA U.S.), walk us through the creative process, from creation to execution, and share what’s next for the campaign.
Tell us about your role in the creation of this work.
Christine (IKEA): As we approached the holidays campaign this year we evaluated the state of retail and our position in the market. We wanted to create a message that aligned with our overall values at IKEA as a way to separate ourselves from our competitors and also communicate our view of the home. We challenged Ogilvy to bring us ideas that would find a different way to express our values and our mission about creating a better life at home for people.
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): Working with IKEA, we saw that the holiday advertising climate had become incredibly boring, formulaic and promotional. Despite huge investments by major brands, our data showed that no one had really broken through. We interviewed consumers about the emotional side of the holidays, and created the "Maybes" campaign that could be used as a red thread throughout all channels - paid, owned and earned - and cover the full spectrum of the story from the most inspiring and emotional to the more practical and commercial.
Give us an overview of the campaign, what is it about?
Christine (IKEA): This campaign is part of our larger overall campaign around helping people to achieve their particular dream in their home. The campaign isn’t about striving for an unachievable idea of perfection, but rather reflects what is ‘perfect’ for that particular person. In this case, we are telling the stories around what achieving that personalized dream is around the holidays.
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): Using the language of "Maybes," we showed that your home can support whatever kind of holiday celebration you want to throw. Maybe it's an intimate gathering over food with friends, or maybe it's a large dinner with extended family. IKEA knows that the most important part of the holidays is the time you spend with the people you care about.
Tell us about the details of the creative brief, what did it ask?
Christine (IKEA): Part of the brief to the agency was to break through the holiday clutter that we see in the market at this time of year. When we looked at the messages around us which centered on creating an idealized version of the holiday, we really wanted to strive to show the many and diverse ways that the many people of the U.S. celebrate their holidays and how IKEA can be an enabler and supporter of helping them to celebrate their way.
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): Our rallying cry was to “Democratize the Holidays” and show the true spirit of the holidays, being at home with the people you love. Since IKEA is so affordable, we asked for an idea that would embrace diversity and tell the story that no matter who you are or how you celebrate, IKEA can help you make the holidays yours.
Which insights led to the creation of this piece of work?
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): Home is the center of every holiday tradition, whatever religion or family structure you have. People self-create rituals – they want to have traditions but bring their own spin to it, whether that is bicultural, traditional, alternative family, friends-giving, etc. Yet even though the holidays have changed, cultural representations of it haven't. As a nation, we are still challenging outdated cultural stereotypes that are not representative of today’s diverse world. One size does not fit all.
Christine (IKEA): We found that people put a lot of stress on themselves during the holidays because they are looking to create memories for their friends and families to keep with them. In trying to achieve an unrealistic version of the holidays, people can sometimes miss out on what is important – the celebrating of the time with family and friends. We wanted to help bring that insight to life around how the celebration is truly what makes the holiday special – bringing people together in your home to be with one another.
Can you share with us any alternative ideas (if any) for this campaign? Why was this idea chosen?
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): There were some funny ideas, some different visual techniques – all based on the same brief. At the end of the day, it turned out the simplest thing was the best. We wanted to be authentic in representing how people really use IKEA at home at this time of year.
Christine (IKEA): This particular idea just struck an emotional chord with all of us. I’ve had a lot of scripts presented to me – this is the first time I teared up at hearing a script as it just seemed to capture the mood of the holidays and also of this time.
What was the greatest challenge that you and your team faced during development.
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): Our biggest challenges were in editing ourselves and in being authentic. We had to keep a balance to make the story relatable to a lot of people. There are so many unique ways in which people celebrate. So, narrowing that down to four scenes to represent everyone was really hard. We had to cherry pick things that were iconic enough but with enough texture that it didn't become banal. If we'd had endless budgets we would have told way more stories and created portraits that went on and on in all channels.
Christine (IKEA): Typical challenges are having enough time for production – getting ready for it, designing the spaces, finding the locations. The most fortunate part of this production was working with Sweetshop Director Mark Albiston. He had a real vision for the spot and this is really the first time that I felt like we were really capturing little snippets of real life unfolding. He had a great way with the actors in the spot as well as getting real and natural ad libbed dialogue throughout the production. That was pretty magical. That and anytime you ‘make’ snow in September was also pretty special.
What did you enjoy most about seeing this campaign through? Did you learn anything new from the experience?
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): Our goal was to try and deliver the most authentic expressions of each family in their respective scenarios. So, for example, when it came to casting, we worked around the Jewish holidays so we could make sure we had real Jewish talent for the opening scene. A lot of the improvisation during filming - singing traditional songs, etc. really helped everyone get into the holiday mood and start celebrating with each other. Even the food that was being served was made with traditional recipes. All the details really did make it feel like the holidays for the cast and crew throughout the shoot.
Christine (IKEA): We had a very special feeling about this campaign and it was great to see both Ogilvy and IKEA so excited about the spot and just really on the same page with making decisions throughout this process. When Ogilvy presented the rough cut to us, they were so happy with it, they were as nervous about presenting it as if it was our first meeting. And I said something I rarely say after seeing a rough cut – which is that I thought it was ‘perfect’ – it reflected that ‘best’ vision you have for a concept but maybe don’t always realize. In this case, I think we agreed that the actual output was even better than we had first envisioned. I also really am proud that we were able to represent so many different families, and I felt like every situation truly looked like a celebration that I would want to be part of – whether it was a big family get together, a smaller gathering or just a couple of friends – it all seemed like somewhere I would want to be and a home that I would want to create for my family and friends. I also liked how IKEA was able to work into every spot and show so many different ways you could create a home that is stylish and functional.
Where do you see this campaign going in the future?
Della and Leslie (Ogilvy): We've love to keep showing real and interesting stories of how real Americans use IKEA all year long.
Christine (IKEA): This is part of our overall campaign around showing how IKEA can help you make your dream around your home come true as we offer functional, stylish, quality, sustainable things for you to make your home all at a price that means that anyone can have that dream. We see that this is a message that resonates very well with people so we will continue in this territory.