Yes, all right, fine. This advertisement is adorable.
Ikea has a pretty good idea what furniture is used for—namely, anything except its stated purpose. Also: finally, a housewares ad that won't have to endure the extravagant scorn of New Yorkers. These people don't have enough room! (See every article every written on how the characters in Friends were in ridiculously huge apartments. You guys, I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but I think it's a television show.)
Ikea, with this Swedish ad you have instantly endeared yourself to us Americans who also don't have enough room and who live in the New York City metro area and have to take crazy shuttle things to and from Red Hook or Elizabeth, N.J., to get a $50 couch.
Agency Akestam Holst and director Jesper Ericstam have done a bang-up job of melding the client's brand with the believably messy home of a normal consumer. It probably helps that Ikea sells all the things, ever. (What the spot really needs is a plate of those meatballs sitting in the background.)
The Rube Goldberg device setup here is almost reminiscent of DirecTV's "When you have cable, and X terrible thing happens" ads, or maybe just children's classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I also want to know where the cat ended up sleeping. I'm going to assume next to the radiator.
The final shot of the baby all alone in the queen-size bed is priceless, and the dog carrying its favorite pillow around the house is an excellent touch. I assume the ad is set in Sweden—seems cold enough and Scandinavian enough—but I thought there was more room/fewer children there.
Not shown: the two broken bookshelves and a partially assembled desk with three vital screws missing.
CREDITS
Client: Ikea
Agency: Akestam Holst
Agency Producer: Leila Widgren
Production Manager: Agneta Oppenheim
CW: Maja Folgero
AD: Petra Albrektsson
CD: Andrea Ullenius
Prod. Co.: Social Club
EP: Magnus Theorin
Director: Jesper Ericstam
DOP: Jakob Ihre
Post: Stopp
Music: Supercircus
Sound: Stopp
Offline Editor: Niclas von der Burg