IKEA Lets Sleep Talkers Do the Talking in Dreamy Mattress Campaign

From mouth tape to weighted blankets – people are obsessed with getting a good night’s rest. But in today’s world of influencers and AI-generated reviews, it’s hard to know what actually works. So to prove that getting a satisfying sleep starts with getting a good (and affordable) mattress, IKEA set out to take a fresh approach to customer testimonials.

In a first-of-its-kind social experiment, IKEA invited real sleep talkers to sleep on their mattresses on location in the IKEA North York store, gathering real-time reviews through the ultimate sign of a deep sleep – sleep talking.

Capturing every mumble, grumble, and snore, the recordings served as genuine product reviews, proving just how well you can sleep on an IKEA mattress.

Aptly named 'Sleep Talk Reviews', the campaign captured real sleep talking from real sleep-talkers over the course of two nights. The sleep talkers were put to bed in a bedroom display, optimised for the perfect slumber, surrounded by hidden cameras and microphones that were engineered to pick up even the slightest mumble. Featuring ÅKREHAMN and VÅGSTRANDA mattresses, the cosy room provided participants with the ideal environment for a deep sleep, capturing over 90 hours of live sleep talking product review footage.

Beyond the screen, these one-of-a-kind reviews will also be making their way onto radio, Spotify, organic social and an owned OOH board outside of the IKEA Downtown store in Toronto.

“At IKEA, we’re always exploring creative ways to connect Canadians with affordable everyday solutions that help them to get a good night’s rest and improve their overall life at home,” said Jonelle Ricketts, head of marketing, IKEA Canada. “With Sleep Talk Reviews, we captured real, unscripted moments to show – quite literally – how comfortable our mattresses are.”

“The relationship between sleep talking and a good night’s sleep is something that felt both fresh and humorous, tapping into the tone that IKEA has become known for,” said Zachary Bautista, group creative director at Rethink.

Geoff Bailie, group creative director at Rethink, added, “Going into the shoot, we had no idea what we were going to capture, but in the end it was that authenticity of the real sleep talkers that helped this campaign come to life in an interesting and insightful way.”