IKEA Puts People in Their Own Little Worlds in Gorgeous Spot from Rethink

IKEA has always understood the importance of a beautiful, functional home - our homes are our own little worlds, you might say. During the past year, with the restrictions of the pandemic forcing us to retreat into our homes, our little worlds suddenly became our entire worlds. Our workplaces, our schools, our gyms, our restaurants, our movie theatres. Our homes had to do it all.

In the face of all these unprecedented changes, sustainability - the one thing that’s always been a priority at IKEA - became less of a priority for many Canadians. But luckily, the same place that people were forced to retreat to during the pandemic, was exactly where they could help the planet the most.

To help people return to making positive changes for the planet every day, the brand sought to show consumers the power of these small, accessible actions taken at home. And, more importantly, that even though we’re apart, these actions can make a big difference when we come together for the home we all share. To tell this story, IKEA and Rethink developed the brand spot 'Our Little World'.

The spot - directed by renowned Canadian director, Mark Zibert - shows people living on their own little planets. We see them going about their everyday lives while taking different sustainable actions, big and small to make those worlds a better place. Ultimately, showing that what you do at home, in your own little world, can change the whole world.

“Through this latest spot, we wanted to show that sustainability and positive change is still possible with small actions taken at home, while acknowledging the shared experiences and challenges of the last year, and really celebrating the way communities have come together to face them,” said Johanna Andrén, head of marketing, IKEA Canada.

“It was important to us to make sure the actions happening in each little world were honest and grounded in reality because the visual creative device of the little worlds is so spectacular, both to help the spot resonate and also to make the sustainable lifestyles feel accessible,” said Dhaval Bhatt, partner and creative director at Rethink.

“Once we reimagined the setting of the home into these little isolated but connected planets, we realized we weren’t beholden to a traditional neighborhood to represent an interconnected community,” Bhatt added. “So, we were able to bring together different types of households with a more global feel, to represent the universal experience of life at home in the past year.” 

The film was shot in Toronto on a soundstage over three days and required extensive CGI animation by LA-based visual effects house A52.

“With such complex post-production, we worked with the experts at A52 and Mark Zibert of Scouts Honour. The entire “world” in which the film takes place is created in post while all live action was shot in-camera,” said Joel Holtby, partner, head of art and creative director at Rethink. “This required us to create different sized dome structures as stages and set-decorate by bolting furniture down to the structures, all while using live lighting and wind to bring realism to the environments on each tiny planet.

“From previous collaborations, we knew Mark could balance the heavy technical requirements while still capturing the emotion, performance and narrative a spot like this demanded. Zibert brought both a strong creative vision and exceptional technical preparation to the project that made a complicated shoot really smooth and, along with the amazing team at A52, made the final outcome better than we could have imagined."

The campaign will be supported by online video, DOOH, social, and digital units that showcase sustainable IKEA products on their own little worlds, acting as a visual microcosm for the big impact of sustainability on the larger world. The 3D animation for social, digital, and OOH was handled by VFX studio SHED out of Montreal.

The spot will air nationally in Canada, as well as in Serbia, Romania, and Croatia.