It could be said that everything looks better in the IKEA showroom until you drag it home for a painful bit of DIY.
And enter new work for the Swedish furniture giant out of the UK spruiking the merits of its kitchen range.
The work of esteemed agency Mother London, the campaign appears to be for a high-end, pretentious kitchen retailer called Eureka Spiritsis, boasting a 25-year guarantee, quality workmanship, seamless functionality and deluxe style.
But there’s a catch: it’s really an anagram, which, when unscrambled, reveals ‘SURPRISE, IT’S IKEA’ and the ad’s protagonist is revealed as an IKEA employee. The voiceover closes the film by saying: “So we lied about the name. But everything else is true.”
The campaign also features on TikTok via 30-second hero films that explains the etiquette behind “how to use an IKEA kitchen”.
In another stunt, press and influencers were invited to the unveiling of Eureka Spiritsis kitchens at The Hackney in East London only for it to be revealed as an ALDI stunt.
Commenting on the work, IKEA’s marketing communication manager for IKEA UK & Ireland, Kemi Anthony, said: “Kitchens are at the heart of every home, and through this campaign, we want to show that IKEA kitchens are stylish, practical and built to last by debunking some common misconceptions. With our playful misdirection, we want to give consumers a pleasant surprise and put IKEA kitchen’s design, quality, and expertise front and centre of the conversation.”