October 2025. IKEA Sweden drops “Wherever Life Goes”.
No furniture porn. No voiceover. Just life moments — and a yellow price tag in the corner.
First kiss → SÄBÖVIK bed, 4 995 kr Heartbreak move → DUNDERGUBBE boxes, 49 kr Baby’s first steps → a crib tag you can actually read
The tag doesn’t sell. It remembers.
15–30 second films. Warm light. Real apartments. Zero polish.
People cry, then open the IKEA app.
How they nailed it
- Used the most famous thing they already own (the yellow tag)
- Made “cheap” feel priceless
- One idea works everywhere: film, billboards, social, radio
- Emotion → life change → exact product + price (conversion on steroids)
Results
- Viral in Sweden in 48 hours
- Helped IKEA win Creative Review’s “Most Creative Brand 2025”
- Ad Age: “poetic”, The Drum: “Ad of the Day”
The lesson
In 2025 everyone’s doing AI explosions and celebrity cameos.
IKEA took the thing people mock them for (low prices) and made it the emotional hero.
Analytical point Most brands hide price until the last second. IKEA made it the star — and collapsed the gap between “I feel this” and “I own this” to almost zero. That’s not just clever creative; it’s a shorter, stronger purchase funnel disguised as a tearjerker. Expect Lidl, Walmart, and Target to rip this off by spring.
