When IKEA discontinued their iconic catalogue in 2020, people weren’t happy. That’s because it’s been more than just a catalogue for 70 years: it defines the IKEA brand. With high awareness and affinity amongst Canadians, the IKEA Catalogue is much more than a vehicle for driving sales, it provides a glimpse into life at home for Canadians. It’s a reflection of the modern Canadian home and taste. It’s inspirational, educational, and a tool to help people make the most out of their homes.

With global uproar on the news and social media over the catalogue going away, we had to change the conversation and launch the final catalogue in a unique way for IKEA fans.

IKEA fans LOVE the catalogue. It’s a cult-favourite and highly anticipated every year. We took a look at what people were saying around its release, and discovered that for IKEA lovers, it marks a time that signals a refresh - to get some inspiration and make some updates to their homes. They keep it around their kitchens and living rooms for multiple reads, put post-it notes on certain pages for reference, and even tear things out of it to put on their mood boards. They keep their favourites, season after season, on the bookshelf or in the magazine basket to reference back to their favourite pages. We thought, why can’t something that people use as a tool to make our homes more beautiful actually MAKE them more beautiful?

We knew IKEA fans were understandably upset about the catalogue going away - and they weren’t shy about it. Fans took to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram to air their frustrations, reminisce about the past, and tell each other anecdotes about a moment with the catalogue in their lives. We combed through discourse on the internet and rounded up the biggest fans of the IKEA catalogue to direct message for a surprise - the last catalogue immortalized.

IKEA’s The Last Catalogue was designed with as much care and attention to detail as everything that’s in it. A linen-bound, high gloss-finish, beautiful coffee table catalogue that IKEA lovers could keep around and use forever. The redesign made the catalogue 30% bigger and incorporated durable hardcovers to survive years of browsing, multiple ribbons to prevent dog-earing, soft-touch pages to help consumers imagine the textiles, high-gloss spot finishes to bring glass features to life, and, of course, it was packaged in it's very own ‘flatpack’ cardboard box in true IKEA fashion.

Each design decision was significant in creating this book, from the weight and finish of the sustainably-sourced paper to the colour and texture of the headband binding the spine together. Utilizing textured and gloss finishes, we were able to highlight specific products as a visual and tactile design element that didn’t take away from the original content.

IKEA produced copies to be distributed out to new and existing IKEA Family members, the biggest IKEA lovers out there. “The Last Catalogue” embodies so many of IKEA’s values, from creating products that are built to last and pushing the envelope when it comes to design. Designers and everyday IKEA customers alike can appreciate the impact of elevating the iconic Catalogue into something to be used as a handbook for everyday life for years to come.

We had over 50,000 entries within the IKEA Family member segment which is 53% higher than previous acquisition-based campaigns, and increased online visitation by 200%. The Last Catalogue was covered in global news outlets ranging from design focused media like NPR to mainstream news outlets like CityTV.