IKEA Canada Taps into Gen Z's Desire for Self Expression in Back to School Campaign

On August 1st, 2023 IKEA Canada launched its back-to-school integrated campaign with creative executed by its activation agency, PIGEON BRANDS, whose role is to create campaigns that drive traffic both in store and online.

The campaign, “Influenced by You” acknowledges the creative cultural influence of Gen Z and in doing so, rather than tell students how to create their living space, encourages them to use IKEA design and decorating solutions to help express their own unique personalities. 

To deliver the campaign, PIGEON tapped into the insight that for many students, their dorm or apartment is the first time they get to fully design and express themselves in a space. Understanding that many Gen Z Canadians highly value self-expression and personalization, PIGEON and IKEA developed a campaign that showed how easy and affordable it is for students to create spaces that reflect who they are.

Celebrating individuality and expression through décor, the campaign leverages three real students, not influencers, and showcases how their unique personalities and aesthetics influence IKEA design. To reinforce authenticity, their social handles were included in the creative. “We were looking for a way to more strongly connect with Gen Z consumers. In response, we created a campaign, which leveraged the distinct personal styles of students to influence furniture, make it authentic and give it meaning - not the other way around (quite a fresh take for a global brand). We created a series of unique spaces 'influenced’ by the individual styles of real students and engaging our creative teams in Toronto and Montréal, developed a series of Gen Z style headlines, unique for both markets, which spoke to the confidence any student can have when it comes to back-to-school,” said Dorota Kulig and Tara Wright, creative directors, PIGEON.

"Starting with the insight that our Gen Z target audience values self-expression and personalisation, we developed a campaign that shows how easy and affordable it is for students to create spaces that truly reflect who they are with IKEA. We then leveraged an extensive media plan, including digital, social, OOH, sponsorships, and audio spots, to meet this specific audience where and when they consume their media." – Claudia Mayne, Director, Marketing Communications IKEA Canada.