Ikea shows its products destroyed by pets in cute campaign about affordability

Pets notoriously wreck homes. (I have a couch whose arms have been punctured by cat claws so often, they have a whole new texture.) Now, Ikea has some fun with misbehaved fur babies in a campaign pushing affordability. Four print ads from Ingo Hamburg show the aftermath of pet destruction, with Ikea products as the victim. Next to broken cups and vases and ripped-up pillows is the line, “Don’t worry, you can afford it.” The ads are wonderfully framed, with the pet clearly just discovered by the owner. Playing to type, the dogs look innocently playful, the cats psychopathically conniving. The campaign is a sequel of sorts to last year’s celebrated “Proudly Second Best” ads from Ingo Hamburg and David Madrid. In that work, Ikea products saw their role usurped by Mom and Dad—for example, an infant is seen sleeping on a parent with a crib unused in the background. (The campaign is one of four finalists for Campaign of the Year at the 2024 Ad Age Creativity Awards.) That earlier campaign was also created for Ikea Al-Futtaim, which encompasses Egypt, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates markets. Ad Age Young Creatives Carla Klumpenaar, the client’s general manager of marketing, communication and interior design, said there’s been noticeable growth in the adoption of household pets in the region in recent years. “We wanted to introduce this topic through this campaign for the first time,” she said. Ikea Al-Futtaim is also launching a collection of household products for pets shortly. “We are excited about this campaign, which on one hand brings the unskippable cuteness of pets, and on the other hand challenges marketing conventions by showing the products damaged,” said Tobias Ahrens, global chief creative officer at Ingo. “An honest story that refreshes the usual Ikea price communication style.” Just as the “Proudly Second Best” campaign did, the new work also includes video executions, which you can see below.

Ikea shows its products destroyed by pets in cute campaign about affordability

Featured Stories