Ikea 'traps' housemates in a '90s reality show

Ikea is marking 25 years of its presence in Spain by creating its own reality show; a "Big Brother" style affair in which housemates are trapped in a pre-Ikea, 1990s style home. "Trapped in the '90s," created via McCann Spain, consists of eight online episodes in which a group of six Spaniards under 25 grapple with such horrors as rotary dial phones, blankets instead of duvets, lack of recycling bins and gas stoves that need to be lit with a lighter. Throughout the show, new Ikea items are gradually introduced to give contestants a way to "survive the ordeal." McCann worked with specialized reality show producers and writers to create the show, and spent weeks searching for the perfect mix of contestants. The show, which was co-directed by Maxi Blanco from Landia and Santy García from Big Brother, was shot at El Alamo Studios in Madrid, where the '90s house (set up to resemble what a house in Spain would have been like pre-1996) was filmed by more than 20 cameras. The team recorded more than 100 hours of content were recorded, with the full set of episodes released between Aug. 22 and Sept 5. on on YouTube and Ikea's website. "It’s the first time that Ikea has made a campaign in the format of a reality show," said Laura Durán, marketing & insights director for Ikea in Spain, in a statement. "The goal was to show in a humorous way how Ikea's products have democratized design, marking a before and after in Spanish homes since its arrival in 1996." “We didn’t want to make an ad that looked like a reality show. We wanted to make a reality show. Period," added Emiliano Gonzalez De Pietri, chief creative officer of McCann Spain. "You could call this an integrated campaign and you would be right —it’s totally pervasive. But the way we see it, it’s an extremely popular TV show that happens to be an Ikea campaign."

Ikea 'traps' housemates in a '90s reality show

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