2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Messi's fans, as well as most of the football lovers, were shocked when Messi announced he was living Barcelona. Our instructions to frame Messi's memories was a funny way to engage football lovers with IKEA.

Background

IKEA’s strong brand personality has a fun, quirky, yet caring nature. For this reason it is always rewarding to jump on trending topics without seeming inauthentic. Messi was leaving FC Barcelona and die-hard Messi fans would be heartbroken. Our objective was to create affinity with this category of people that in UAE are in a huge number.

Describe the creative idea

We created a post as a reactive piece of social content in response to Messi leaving FC Barcelona. We knew die-hard Messi fans would be heartbroken — so we wanted to help fans always keep a piece of Messi’s legacy. So instead of being tucked away in their wardrobes as a reminder that they could never wear it during another game, IKEA decided to help fans frame the t-shirt in their homes and get prepared for future trophies.

Describe the strategy

We know that the number of football lovers in UAE is huge. IKEA is not a brand associated with Football but it is a fun brand always ready to jump in a popular conversation with our point of view. The two - IKEA and football lovers - are not easy to associate and we found Messi's love story ending with Barcelona a great opportunity for the brand to join the popular conversation.

Describe the execution

We used the post on IKEA owned social channels the day Messi announced he was leaving Barcelona with a historical press conference.

Describe the outcome

Launched on the 3 countries in the Middle East with $0 production Impressions 500K with 2 posts only Engagement: 13 times bigger that the average IKEA engagement rate