Sometimes
the hardest part about a PR campaign is getting people to care about what you have
to say or what you are promoting. You could have a show stopping event with
lasers, free food and out of this world party favors but all those things are
worthless if you end up with nothing to measure because you failed to get
people to care about your product or your idea. In today’s day and age where
people have an infinite number of things vying for their attention, in a
society where instant results are the expectation, getting people to take
notice of your brand or ideas can be difficult.
IKEA’s latest advertisement promoting their 2015 catalog makes people take notice. With the
rise of online shopping and the Internet, catalog shopping is becoming an
archaic practice. However, furniture giant IKEA wants to keep the catalog alive
as a way to drive sells to its company. In order to do so IKEA created an
advertisement that changes that way people view catalogs.
This ad is
great because the creators use the metaphor of top-notch touch screen
technology to create enthusiasm for their paper catalog. The ad has an
entertainment element because it is almost as if IKEA is poking fun of the
latest and greatest high-tech devices society has become accustomed to using. Humor
is also created by referring to the catalog as a “bookbook” which is a clever
spin off names such as “ebook” or “ibook.”
The ad also
grabs and keeps your attention because you can’t help but want to know what
absurdly accurate thing IKEA is going to say about its “bookbook” next. The
idea of using buzz words and phrases often only associated with technology to
describe a physical book is intriguing and interesting. No one ever thinks of
hardcopy books as having “high definition pages” and “tactile touch
technology.” We only think of book as being outdated, old school and
cumbersome.
IKEA may
actually be able to bring the use of catalog purchasing back to life with this
ad because of the innovative and almost shocking way it challenges us to think
about using a book. If you want to make people care about your idea, sometimes
you have to open their minds to new ways of thinking. In my opinion, IKEA has
done a great job with the bookbook!
Lauren, Glad you brought this to my attention! This ad is brilliant and I found myself chuckling many times. We actually just discussed this in my Consumer Behavior class. One company repositioned their square cereal as diamonds, simply by turning it 45 degrees. This IKEA ad reminded me of that because they aren't changing the product at all, they are just adding value to the product. Sometimes it is nice to get back to the basics and flip through a bookbook!
ReplyDeleteLauren,
ReplyDeleteThis ad is hilarious! I think it is so clever and really shines light onto our society always wanting to see the newest, most innovate and technological advanced products and advertisements to catch our attention. The IKEA catalogue is actually one of my favorite things to look at and I am so happy they have keep the tradition of a hardcopy book or bookbook as I should say!
The advertisement was hysterical! I knew that Ikea was known for its catalog design, but I wasn't aware of the 2015 campaign the company had created. It definitely looked like Ikea was poking fun at Apple a little bit, and I think the target audience will appreciate the reference. Thanks for the laugh!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that IKEA is keeping the tradition alive since you almost never see catalogues and books anymore. This ties into Chapter 23 of "Share This" too as a good example of how IKEA is integrating traditional campaigns into a world of technology. It obviously can be done because IKEA is doing a great job at it.
ReplyDelete