Ikea's ad campaign is not only a clever lampoon of tech ads, tech jargon, tech gadgetry and
the public’s seemingly insatiable appetite for new tech devices, but it also honors the quality,
convenience, durability and relevance of printed catalogs and print advertising generally.
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product launch, it becomes ripe for parody. And this ad is not only
a clever lampoon of tech ads, tech jargon, tech gadgetry and the
public’s seemingly insatiable appetite for new tech devices, but it
also honors the quality, convenience, durability and relevance of
printed catalogs and print advertising generally.
Using terms and images that show its advantages to digi-
tal, the campaign underscores how strongly Ikea believes in the
power of print.
“Digital cannot replace print,” said Tinus Strydom, creative
director at BBH Asia Pacific (Singapore). “You can’t lend some-
one a book from your Kindle library. You can’t pick up a well-
thumbed digital paperback from a backpackers hostel in Thailand.
You cannot meditate in the cathedral of knowledge that the New
York Public Library creates. Books have a charm and a romance
that digital does not have. They have an ‘in the world-ness’ that
the virtual lacks.
“They age, gracefully. They remind us of journeys not taken
by their very presence. They have heft, volume, weight, cover
designs. They occupy physical and mental space, whereas digital
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is a screen. It lacks focus. You can jump around. Screens are not
romantic.
“And while Amazon is the world’s biggest bookstore with the
ability to recommend, offer reviews and help me find what I want,
when a physical book or printed publication arrives on my door-
step, it’s like a present,” Strydom said. “Downloading the Kindle
version of a book or magazine has zero anticipation. The internet
is my research library; my bookshelf is the curated result of that
research. It’s the stuff I want to keep, the physical mementos of
my literary adventures.”
Leave it to Ikea to find a way to communicate the attributes of
a printed catalog in a way that is sophisticated yet sassy, humor-
ous and oh-so culturally rel evant. Ikea, of course, knows a thing or
two about simple, iconic design, too.
“At Ikea, we feel that technology that is life-enhancing should
be in the hands of everyone. So the 2015 Ikea catalog is free,”
Eghammer says. “You can download one from your mailbox when
you open it with a key. If it’s not there, try refresh the next day. Or
you can upload yourself to the Ikea store and find one there.” PW!