IKEA "Kitchen Party"

Looking at the IKEA "Undercover" ad yesterday reminded me of one of my favourite ads from the last few years. "Kitchen Party", created for the UK and Irish markets, was a hugely successful ad, made prominent by the use of Jona Lewie's 1980 hit "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties", covered by Man Like Me. Man Like Me feature as the advertisements protagonists and quickly spiked in popularity as a result, becoming ASOS.com's house band.

The ad was created by Mother London, a London based creative agency. The campaign won a Gold award at the British Arrows in 2011. IKEA also brought out a feature length music video of the ad that is featured below. The ad is humorous, aspirational and creative. IKEA's products are featured heavily and the Youtube video even allows users to click on a product in the video to be directed to the featured product's information. This ad will definitely be one of my favourites for years to come. 

IKEA "Undercover"

Gonna bite the bullet and look at one of this year's new Christmas ads, they'll be airing within the next week or two anyway! IKEA ads are usually well done, and this one is no exception. Created by Swedish advertising agency Åkestam Holst, for the Swedish market, this ad demonstrates that even "the busiest man in the world" still makes a trip to IKEA to stock up on Christmas essentials.

The ad is whimsical and invokes the Christmas spirit without being too severe to be seen in November. I'm not someone who is particularly bothered by the festive season starting earlier and earlier each year, but I think this ad might slip past those who are.