How Dentsu Canada and IKEA Are Bringing Home to the Office
With all the back-to-school talk, it often feels like people forget that the end of summer is also back-to-office season. The evenings of summery cottage weather are done, the best days of vacation time have passed, and in the case of 2022, the pandemic has truly lifted to the point where those working from home may now return to the office full-time. And while regaining a semblance of pre-pandemic regularity may be comforting to some, there are absolutely those who, in the past few years, have become very accustomed to working from home - and might feel disappointed by this transition.
But, for IKEA and Dentsu Canada, this period of change doesn’t have to be stressful. While they recognise that working from home has been a source of great comfort for many - affording people the opportunity to see more of their families, balance their schedules and go on redecorating sprees, they also believe that the office space can be equally comfortable - when given the right décor.
To help achieve this, IKEA Canada and Dentsu have launched ‘The Office Home Collection’. Consisting of 10,000 everyday IKEA essentials meant to spruce up the office, the social-led campaign has been running from August 8 to September 10, and consists of static images, as well as short and longer form videos. Designed to help Canadians think outside the office-shaped box, the campaign aims to remind reluctant office returnees that in fact, it is possible to bring the feeling of home to work.
LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with the Dentsu Canada team and IKEA’s integrated media leader Ami Warrington to find out more.
LBB> This project represents a new way of working for Dentsu Canada. Can you tell us more about that?
Dentsu Canada> Dentsu Canada has had a flexible workspace for many years before the pandemic, with dedicated communication channels and resources for everyone. Collaboration, innovation and flexibility are at the core of how we work together with clients and partners, and we hope that comes through in campaigns like this recent work with IKEA.
LBB> What was the research aspect of the campaign like? From a strategic standpoint, why is now the right time for a campaign about going back to the office? And did you find interesting statistics about an influx of Canadians returning to work?
Dentsu Canada> This campaign anticipated a return to work – full-time or hybrid – at some point in 2022, so was created to be ready to go live as critical mass was reached with a return to the office.
Ami> When the covid-19 pandemic started more than two years ago, life at home changed completely and many Canadians transitioned the way they work and set up home offices. While for many it was challenging at the time, we have since gotten used to not just working from home, but also this feeling of living at work. We’ve become accustomed to the sense of comfort that comes from working in our own space, surrounded by our own things and enjoying that feeling of home throughout the work day.
With many offices reopening, we may be lacking the comforts we’ve grown familiar with over the pandemic. So, we wanted to take the comforts of home and juxtapose them with a more traditional office space through a playful, humorous take on product ideas and placements. From home office to ‘Office Home’ - literally. Through ‘Office Home’, we want to help the many Canadians reimagine the traditional office space, whether they’re continuing to work from home, transitioning to a hybrid model or going back full-time.
Looking at insights, we saw that in June, foot traffic in downtown Toronto had reached a pandemic high, as many employers reopened office spaces for full-time, collaboration or hybrid work. To launch this campaign, we targeted August/September timing, which captures that post summer back-to-school and back-to-college mindset - so why not back-to-work as well?
LBB> What was the brief for this brand campaign like?
Dentsu Canada> The brief was quite open – do something amazing on social! And that is always fun. For us, we wanted to make sure that whatever we did wasn’t only fun and celebrated the beautiful possibilities of home, but was also very insight-based. One of those insights we played around with was that impending return to work and the multitude of emotions people are sure to have going back.
Ami> We left the brief very open for Dentsu, as these social-first campaigns are meant to push the barriers beyond our ‘always-on’ content. They could be connected to a specific product or offer, or to an IKEA experience, or even to an occasion we can address proactively. These campaigns are meant to be those larger moments that add additional excitement to our social channels.
LBB> What were your main aims and ambitions with this project?
Ami> Collectively, we can all relate to how the home has evolved through the past couple of years. There are nods throughout the campaign to common work from home insights – from the increase in pets during the pandemic to discovering home baking, or the people who turn their houses into an oasis through the heavy use of greenery. With this campaign, we want to bring some humour to this next transition and help Canadians think a bit outside the box on what an office can truly be.
Though IKEA is known first and foremost for the home, we’ve also furnished offices and businesses throughout the country. Although this campaign is a very playful take, the message is the same; we want to help you feel at home, no matter where you are or what you are doing.
LBB> Riffing on the struggle of leaving the home office is a fun and relatable idea. How did you go about designing an ad to reflect this experience?
Dentsu Canada> I think we’ve all gotten quite used to the feeling of working from home. There’s comfort, there’s familiarity, and of course, there’s that home feeling. So, for us, we started with looking at our own feelings about returning to work, and went from there.
Each piece needed to do two things – remind you of what the office looked and felt like, and immediately demonstrate how IKEA products could help make any of those spaces more wonderful. And one of the great things about IKEA products is that they telegraph home and comfort so naturally!
LBB> What was the design process like for the ‘Office Home’ collection? And building on that, how did this influence the initial concepting process?
Dentsu Canada> As the famous saying goes: ‘give me the freedom of a tight brief’. Knowing every concept must include the furniture and décor gives us the parameters within which we got to play. But for us, the furniture and décor are just the beginning. We wanted to make sure that our spots illustrated a feeling – because that’s obviously what people respond best to.
Knowing that, we were able to scrutinise the early work to ensure they weren’t simply showcasing IKEA products, but doing so in a way that elicited some kind of reaction. That’s where a relevant human insight meets an exciting creative idea!
Ami> Although we would love to claim these products as ‘new’, the products within this campaign are all in our existing range and offerings. With over 10,000 products at IKEA, we knew we already had products that would work perfectly within this campaign. We wanted to use our products and be playful, bringing a smile to what could be a situation some may be hesitant to embrace.
LBB> Do you have a favourite spot from ‘The Office Home Collection’?
Ami> My favourite execution is the bathroom stall. It’s fun, playful and touches on the insight in such a strong way.
LBB> Who did you bring in to shoot and direct the spot? And why were they the right person for the job?
Dentsu Canada> To maximise a tight budget, we leveraged the talents of our in-house content creator Gurmeet Singh. He comes to us fresh off a win for best student film, from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. Gurmeet was brand new to our team and immediately gelled with the creative team. We turned a challenge into an opportunity, as working with a fully integrated in-house team, we were able to collaborate seamlessly and without barriers.
We shot at our Dentsu offices, the perfect backdrop, which also allowed us unlimited access for scouting and planning - especially useful on a condensed timeline.
LBB> Do you have any interesting anecdotes or lessons learned from this new campaign? What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Dentsu Canada> Our biggest challenge was figuring out how we could make an impactful and engaging piece of creative work on a limited budget. This started with writing creative, simple, and yet impactful vignettes which required limited shots, and involved minimal or no acting. We took an all-hands-on-deck approach to support the production team, and limited the number of external resources required to be engaged. We all pitched in, from collaborative creative ideation and problem solving, to literally picking up and moving equipment and supplies.
The collaborative environment really helped to keep morale and excitement high throughout prep, despite the limitations we had to overcome. There was so much learning along the way, and in some instances, we needed to unlearn certain habits and traditional ways of doing things in order to achieve smarter and more efficient solutions. We're keen to apply these learnings to future productions. All in all, we proved that a lot can be done on a limited budget if we're open to thinking about the approach differently.
From a pure production standpoint, our biggest benefit became our biggest challenge. We shot on the sixth floor at the Dentsu office in downtown Toronto. The space is filled with windows and flooded with light. This was key to our overall aesthetic, as having beams of sunlight streaming through an area makes a space feel more like home. The challenge? Our shots needed to sync with the time of day to achieve the right look for the campaign.
On the day of the shoot the skies were overcast, shielding us from the sunlight that was central to the look. The team needed to quickly pivot and collaborate to find a workable solution that would achieve the desired result. Having trust in the collaborative process and being open to all options helped resolve the issue and brought the campaign to life, exactly as imagined.
Ami> As we were looking at the individual creative assets for the campaign, we felt ‘Office Home’ was missing an overarching narrative. We really wanted to ensure that the campaign captured this very specific moment in time for people. That missing piece was the catalyst to create the hero video, which draws on the transition from home-life to work-life - tying the entire concept together.
LBB> Have you personally had to overcome the struggle of transitioning from the home office to the real office? And if so, how did you go about managing?
Ami> I’ve been working at IKEA for more than six years, and it’s always been a truly flexible place to work. They really value work-life balance, and provided the right resources to make the transition back into the office a positive one.
LBB> What’s coming up for the IKEA/Dentsu Relationship?
Dentsu Canada> Dentsu Creative has been working with IKEA for the past year, leading content for our organic social channels. And, it was a natural fit for us to lead this social-first campaign. You will continue to see more social-first campaigns throughout the year!
As for what is next for Dentsu Canada, (without spilling all our secrets) we have a lot of exciting things happening for the remainder of 2022, and into 2023 – some of which include more work with IKEA - so stay close to their stores, website and social channels for more details!
