Scandinavian furniture retail company Ikea seems to have discovered a new way of communicating with its clients. OK, it didn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of advertising but still, the brand looks like having a good plan to reach client’s hearts: printed ads.
Just a few months ago, the brand dedicated an entire page in a Swedish women magazine to a printed ad, asking the ladies to pee on it just to get a discount on a baby crib and other related items. Although it chose a peculiar way of promoting its products, customers didn’t actually have to pee on the ad. This was just a creative invitation to join Ikea’s Family Member Price club. Moreover, it delivered a fun way for women to find out whether they are pregnant or not.
Now, for the Middle East market, the brand has come up with yet another interesting idea which promotes its bedding line known as Sömnig (Swedish for sleepy). We bring you the “Sleepiest Print Ad Ever,” which is a promo material specially designed by the retailer to help you get a good night’s sleep.
Distributed to the audience in a monthly magazine simply called Good, the interactive ad promises a restful sleep, quite similar to what you can get from one of Ikea’s beds or mattresses. But how can a simple piece of paper do this? If you ask Memac Ogilvy—the agency that helped the brand bring the concept to life—the answer is quite simple.
You rip apart the ad from the rest of the magazine, place it on your nightstand, and wait for your dream to get a good night’s sleep come true. But before you get there, you first have to activate the promotional material. When switched on, the ad emits a white noise frequency, helping you sleep better. Plus, it’s infused in lavender ink, a scent that helps relax your muscles and lowers the heart rate.
What’s even cooler is that the ad can be reused. Thanks to a USB port, you can charge Sömnig’s battery, so you can use it even when it doesn’t have much ‘fuel left in its tank.’
The Sleepiest Print Ad Ever was born in response to a study conducted by IKEA, which shows that about nine in ten people in the EAU sleep less than eight hours per night.
Sadly, we don’t know if the print really works. But if you were lucky enough to get your hands on the April issue of the Good magazine, then let us know if the printed ad is as magical as the video below suggests.