Ikea’s ThisAbles: A special campaign
After creating ADapt, through our next task, we tried to get a better understanding of how advertising companies are handling campaigns with a social impact, the structure and strategies that they follow. In order to do so, we were given a wide selection of award-winning campaigns from the Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2019.
We chose the Ikea “ThisAbles” campaign, because we considered it a community-driven project and a people-centered campaign. Other than that, it had a positive impact on society and -mostly- it came along with our visions and philosophy. It is a brief video campaign starring Eldar, a man who has cerebral palsy. After examining the video thoroughly, we concluded that the goal was to introduce a series of product adaptors that make Ikea’s existing furniture and goods accessible to people with disabilities facilitating their daily lives. At the same time, the campaign highlights the tremendous effort that people with special needs have to make in their daily lives, as well as the brand’s mentality that its products are addressed to everyone equally. When we concluded that this campaign was ideal for us, we created a Powerpoint presentation to showcase our findings and analysis.
Everything started from a Hackathon hosted by Ikea in cooperation with two Non-Governmental Organizations in which product engineers and people with disabilities worked together to assess how the existing items could become more functional and suitable to their needs. Except for the add-ons, Ikea also considered how the contribution could be more inclusive, accessible and affordable. More specifically, Ikea made those add-ons downloadable for free. With this action Ikea showed that the add-ons are a necessity and not a product that is aimed to bring profit.
While making its first steps in the Israeli Ikea stores, the idea has gained ground and those 13 adaptors can since be found in 127 countries. It became clear from early on that these innovative products can be of great help to people all around the world. Moreover, this campaign came in an era that there has been a surge of awareness in various business fields. It influenced other businesses like Reform and Microsoft (which created the adaptive controller for Xbox) to rethink their designs so as to cater to disabled people’s needs as wall.
We thought that the whole campaign and -more specifically- the story of the campaign is very good. The issue that the campaign is addressing is an important social problem. Even now, in the 21st century, inclusivity and accessibility for everyone should not be considered granted. In ADapt we are inspired by campaigns as such that strive to make a difference in the world and acknowledge the injustice. For us, this campaign was definitely a lesson.
Team: Despoina Fragou, Stavros Tzanis, Katerina Kalatha, GeorgiannaChondrou, Angeliki Valeri
Agency: ADapt
