The challenge

In 2021, our challenge was to help IKEA build on seven years of thought-leadership into life at home, as the world began to emerge from the Covid 19 pandemic.

So, harnessing the growing momentum in deeply understanding life at home within IKEA, we took a brand new approach to mapping the issues that mattered to customers and co-workers and landed on the most important conversation to join and lead - the connection between people’s homes and their mental wellbeing. 

As this is a global report, the biggest job to do was to land the benefits of the work with IKEA markets and internal stakeholders. So, we embarked on an iterative engagement programme involving Jesper Brodin, IKEA CEO, and Marcus Engman, IKEA Chief Creative Officer, to help shape our approach to both the report and to communicating it.

Our approach

We assembled a team of qualitative and quantitative research partners to ask over 34,000 people globally to share their experiences of mental wellbeing at home. These insights shaped the content of our report and creative communications platform: Balance Starts at Home.

For the first time in the Life at Home Report’s history, we delivered a bespoke editorial-led magazine alongside a traditional report format. It explores the insights in a totally new way and gives voice to IKEA experts, knowledgeable influencers and everyday people side-by-side. In another first, we were able to engage the millions-strong IKEA Family network of global customers and promote the project on IKEA.com.

We also produced a huge range of creative assets and explanatory toolkits for IKEA global channels and to inspire local market teams, including:

Interactive online report 

We completely reimagined the existing Life at Home microsite to deliver the findings of the report in more interactive and engaging ways. We also created a more standard PDF report for ease of sharing and reference.

Hero film

Featuring five people who participated in the research phase of the project, we planned, directed and produced a remote global videoshoot. Their stories were crafted into a hero film that summarises the key findings of the report.

Instagram content series: ‘The Sides of Home’

We created an Instagram story series featuring five original films that juxtapose positive and negative experiences of mental wellbeing at home – the sides of home. The interactive content invites the user to choose their own side and explore related report findings.

IKEA Life at Home magazine

We sustainably produced 1000 copies of a bespoke IKEA Life at Home magazine that explores the report theme through a series of editorial articles created together with IKEA, external experts and everyday people.

Influencer and press mailer

To reach a wider audience, we created a personalised and Instagrammable direct mailer. The premium and sustainable ‘Balance Ritual’ pack invites press and influencers to make use of selected IKEA products to stimulate their five senses in order to find better balance at home.

In-store ‘Better Home Balance’ trail for customers

Launching in early 2022, an in-store ‘treasure hunt’ style trail will allow IKEA Family members to explore the findings and advice from the report as they shop.   

Internal comms campaign

A suite of digital and physical internal assets were produced to promote the findings of the report with IKEA co-workers.

This was a year-long and complex project where we took the creative lead and brought together expert collaborators to bring our vision to life. Many thanks to Crowd DNA, YouGov, Edelman, AndStudio, and Heaps + Stacks.

Results

• The project launched on 14th October 2021 and results are now being collected
• Huge enthusiasm from all IKEA divisions on the theme of wellbeing at home
• The report campaign was activated through IKEA global channels for the first time 
• High market pick-up rate expected

What we did

• Insight and strategy
• Creative concept
• Design system
• Hero film and production
• Campaign microsite
• Social content series
• Influencer direct mailer
• Bespoke magazine
• Shopper activation
• Internal comms
• Report writing and design 

To give the research more immediacy and emotional resonance, we created a hero film which emphasised the themes from the report. Our participants from the UK, United States, France and China shared their real stories from the past 12 months, while remote-shooting allowed us a glimpse into their home life.