As far as holiday advertising goes, we’ve seen heartwarming, cute, fuzzy, weird, but we haven’t been hit with a laugh punch to the gut until now. Ikea’s first-ever UK Christmas ad, features a family who’s ‘home shamed’ by their kitsch ornaments in one of the most original raps I’ve heard in advertising or even on Spotify.
And it’s pretty ho-ho-ho-larious.
Created by Mother London, the spot starts off tame enough with a family of three doing their thing in their somewhat drab and cluttered apartment.
After Mom receives a text about having guests over, her ceramic bunny teapot buckles its eyes brows, trains its “judgey” eyes on Mom, and kicks off the rap, voiced by a Grime Music artist who Skepta hailed as “the greatest grime MC of all time” – D Double E, who voices the gimcrack ornaments. The spot ends with a line that says, “Silence the critics.”
Watch and listen to the “Reel Ad of the Week” spot, directed by MJZ’s Tom Kuntz below:
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“Our first Ikea Christmas advert focuses on the phenomenon of ‘home shame,’ encouraging people to overcome the negative voices in their head holding them back from opening up their homes,” Sarah Green, U.K. and Ireland country marketing manager at Ikea told Muse By Clio’s Tim Nudd. “It was born from the common feeling that along with the seasonal joys, a lot of us feel a looming sense of dread when it comes to hosting others, with many feeling ashamed of our homes over the Christmas period.”
I would be remiss not to mention the superb animation by Electric Theatre Collective. The 2D and 3D artist working in tangent director Kuntz and D Double E just takes the humor and charm to a whole other level, making the spot worth watching over and over – especially for the ceramic panda who throws in a comment here and there, “Disgusting.”
Apparently, a full track is on the way, but for now here are the lyrics:
I must confess
This place ain’t blessed
This place is a mess
Disgusting
No, you don’t deserve no guests
In here, in here, I don’t wanna lay down or rest
Are you crazy?
That crack in the wall needs addressing
The state of the floor is just depressing
This table’s older than the pyramids
Older?
At least it’s younger than the mirror is
This place is small and it’s barely a house
Never mind a cat, you couldn’t even swing a mouse
So small
Those curtains are looking tired
Decorations are tired
Look, you style is fired
It’s like somebody hit it with a bulldozer
If your house was a car
It would get pulled over
Excuse me, please
This is very very
Very very
Very very very unacceptable.
Who now wants the full track from our ad? Christmas no.1 this year… @DDoubleE7
— IKEA UK (@IKEAUK) November 8, 2019
The campaign will launch across broadcast and VOD TV, cinema and digital media. The :90, :60 and :20 edits are fully supported with out-of-home, press, CRM and PR.
CREDITS:
Client: Ikea
Agency: Mother
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
MJZ Producer: Emma Butterworth
MJZ Production Manager: Daniel Gay
Production Designer: Chris Oddy
Director of Photography: Chris Soos
Edit: Whitehouse
Editor: Russell Icke
Music Supervision: Dave Bass and Arnold Hattingh at Wake the Town
Sound: 750mph
Post and VFX: Electric Theatre Collective
Producer: Magda Krimitsou
Coordinator: Larisa Covaciu
Creative Director: James Sindle
2D Lead: James Belch
3D Lead: Patrick Krafft
2D Artists: Chris Fraser, Tomer Epsthein
3D Artists: Jordan Dunstall, Ryan Maddox, Mark Bailey, Remy Herisse, Edwin Leeds, Gregory Martin, Nikolai Maderthoner, Will Preston, Stefan Brown, Adrian Lan Sun Luk, Piers Limberg, Zach Pindolia, Olivia Grimmer, Romain Thirion, Richard Fry
Colorist: Luke Morrison
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reel360.com
SOURCE: The Drum, Muse by Clio
