A Proposal to Ikea
By Alex Hernandez
Situation Ikea is the largest furniture retailer in the world, recognized for its Scandinavian style. They are Swedish private company based in the Netherlands, founded in 1943. The company focuses on providing inexpensive furniture to its consumers in various modern styles, which makes it easy and affordable to decorate the living space. Ikea loves efficiency and are always focusing on finding the best ways the package and deliver merchandise. Although they are the world leaders in furniture retail, they do face constant threats and competition. They have also been criticized in the past for the quality of the furniture. Some people say that quality keeps decreasing as Ikea finds cheaper materials to work with. Ikea’s advertisement has generally revolved around making the most out of the space you have and general organization of the living space. It has proven a successful approach for them, as they still are currently the world leaders. One aspect that Ikea has failed to further capitalize in their advertisements is in the power of their Swedish meatballs. The meatballs are extremely popular with the people that know about them. Some might even consider them having a cult-like following. This is what we want the advertisements to be based off. We want to use the meatballs, and the furniture to provide a whole experience, rather than be the providers of one service.
Audience
Ikea’s primary target audience usually consists of young homeowners and young
professionals. They will be first time homeowners and people moving on their own for the first time. They will be aged 21 – 35. This will be the target that the commercial will try to go after. There is mounting competition for Ikea, amidst claims that the furniture is getting cheaper. The commercials will target these people to ensure they keep coming back and the competition stays behind. They will not try to target an older audience because older targets will usually have more money, and won’t spend at Ikea.
Objectives
The objective of the ad will be to encourage our consumers to keep visiting Ikeas,
whether it be for the food, or for the furniture. A secondary objective is to indirectly let people know that Ikea also sells food. We will aim to create a sort of mystic around the meatballs so that people become curious and trek out to an Ikea to try them.
Strategy Intellectual - The intellectual strategy for the ad will be to paint Ikea as an experience rather than just a furniture store. It will downplay the fact that it sells furniture a little bit so that it can attack the consumer from another standpoint. Ikea’s meatballs are really popular with most of the people that have tried them, but not everyone knows that they even sell food. There are even people that go to Ikea not to buy furniture, but to eat the meatballs. Instead of putting the furniture in the spotlight, the meatballs will be sharing the spotlight. This will also give an aura of mystery to the meatballs, and make the people that haven’t tried them curious. Overall, we will not be selling neither the meatballs nor the furniture, but the whole Ikea experience. Media – The bulk of the commercial will be one single shot and will be overall pretty simple. It will open with a couple in their late 20s at what seems to be a somewhat nice restaurant. They will be nicely dressed and they will be looking attractive. They will have a conversation about the nice “place” they are at and how good the food is. Then the man will ask if she wants to go hang out on his new couch. They both get up happily to leave. The camera starts to truck right, in the direction they are moving. It trucks faster then them and leaves them out of the frame. It quickly comes to stop on a living room set. When the couple catches up and enters again, they are suddenly dressed in robes and lounging attire. They both take a couch. The woman lays down reading a book, and the man sits on a couch with a pipe, reading a newspaper. There is a fake fireplace going, and a rug with a sleeping Dalmatian on it. There will be a typeover that appears, reading “A lot more than just meatballs.” There will then be a cut to a LS of both the kitchen set and the living room
Advertiser: Ikea Agency: AHC Leon Product: Ikea
Video OPENING SHOT: MLS Profile view of a couple having dinner at what seems like an upscale restaurant. They are the only couple visible. They laugh among themselves and chat with each other. They are visibly happy to be there. They are a young couple, in their late 20’s to early 30’s. They are nicely dressed. They both eating traditional Sweedish meatballs. The food looks fancy and appetizing. The girl looks playfully and seductively at the guy.
Title: “Meatballs” Format: Demonstration Lenght: 30 seconds
Audio SOUND: There are kitchen and restaurant sounds in the background. SOUND: The couple is laughing and having a good time. GIRL: “Thanks for the date. You know I love this place.” MAN: Yeah. These Swedish meatballs are irresistible”
GIRL: “You are irresistible” MAN: “Hey. You want to go... relax on my new couch?”
The girl smiles happily and they both get up They start to walk away, still happy and smiling. They walk towards the right of the screen. TRUCK RIGHT: As they start to walk, camera quickly trucks ahead of them, leaving them out of the shot. In the same shot that the camera trucks, the setting transitions from restaurant setting, to one of a living room.
SOUND: The restaurant sounds fade out and the liveliness turns into a peaceful quietness. The couple is now quiet.
The couple enters closely behind where the camera stops, but now they are dressed in lounging attire. The man, now sporting a robe a newspaper and a pipe, sits down on a reclining couch. The woman enters in a robe, hair towel, and reading a book. The woman lays down on another couch to read the book. To the side of them is a fireplace, only it is a fake fireplace. The ones that have paper “flames.” There is a dog laying sleeping on a bear rug in the center, a Dalmatian. TYPEOVER: “A lot more than just meatballs.” On the side, we see the man go to smoke his pipe, but instead of smoke coming out, bubbles come out. CUT to WS. You can see both restaurant and living room sets in the same shot. There are people shopping in the background
CUT to logo of Ikea. FADE OUT.
SOUND: You can hear the fake fireplace going, and the man turning the pages of the newspaper.
SOUND: You can hear the bubbles that the pipe is making. SOUND: You can still hear him blowing bubbles, but now you also hear the faint sounds of the people shopping in the background.
SOUND: You can still hear the bubbles blowing.