For decades, IKEA catalogues have been showing us how beautiful our homes could be. But recent research has shown that Norwegians don't feel seen in lifestyle ads. 48% of our target audience feel detached, claiming that glossy catalogues and furniture ads don't reflect their life at home. At the same time, we're in an economic climate that has made it even more important to prove why it’s worth spending money at IKEA.

With this new campaign, IKEA wanted to candidly acknowledge the gap between aspiration and reality. By boldly declaring that "Life is not an IKEA catalogue", IKEA wanted to establish and strengthen brand loyalty and trust among Norwegian consumers, whilst demonstrating why their products offers great value for money.

The contents of this film was apparently so disturbing that it ended up on the front page of the national newspaper for causing distress amongst some queasy viewers. The film starts pretty normal, showing the illusion of a picture-perfect IKEA catalogue home. Different IKEA products are displayed in a beautiful Scandinavian living room, before we reveal a mom violently vomiting into an IKEA bucket and then wiping vomit off her hand on the sofa. A text appear: Life is not an IKEA catalogue. It then ends with the message of how sofa covers from IKEA can easily be removed and washed free from vomit stains.

Through a series of brutally honest print ads, we showed Norwegians that we understand the life isn’t as picture perfect as our catalogues have shown them to be over the last 70 years. Real homes are lived in, peed and puked on, and furniture will inevitably get stained or broken. By invading our own glossy universe with real life, we proved that our furniture and products are made to withstand everyday life – no matter how real it gets.

By daring to show life in a more honest way, IKEA shifted its brand image from aspirational to relatable. IKEA was embraced as a rare brand that actually understood the realities of everyday life. Turns out a little bit of puke resulted in the best performing IKEA campaign ever tested in Norway – as well as all-time high visits to IKEA, both online and in-store, in the weeks following the campaign.