CASE 144 / Al-Futtaim IKEA / 2023
Proudly Second Best
Let the brand play a truthful supporting role beside something customers value more.
AI-assisted research and analysis for the SNS Creative Fieldbook; published by SNS Media Tech. No named human reviewer is claimed.
Sources reviewed 2026-11-05
Campaign credits belong to the original creators. They did not write or endorse this analysis.
Credits: DAVID Madrid and INGO Hamburg; Sal Gorda production; director Michelle Cassis, as credited by The One Show.
Recognition: 2024 One Show Gold Pencil, Film & Video / TV, VOD, & Online / 30 Seconds and Under – Series.
Launch / edition: 2023. Award years: 2024.
The problem. The idea. The experience.
The award submission says the brief was to make parents, especially first-time parents, aware of IKEA’s children’s furniture range and build a connection with them. The task was category relevance: showing useful products while acknowledging that a parent matters more than any piece of furniture.
How the idea came to life
Three domestic situations show a child choosing a parent while a suitable IKEA product waits nearby. The brand identifies the ANTILOP high chair, BOLMEN step stool and SMÅGÖRA cot. The apparent concession, being second to a caregiver, reframes the product as a supportive part of family life rather than its emotional centre.
How it reached people
Ogilvy’s agency record credits DAVID Madrid and INGO Hamburg and presents the three films. The One Show entry describes audiovisual, social, outdoor and print distribution. IKEA identifies Al-Futtaim as the franchisee operating in UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman; this should not be inflated into a claim of one uniform global media buy.
Supporting sources: Primary brand, contributor or award record → Primary brand, contributor or award record → Primary brand, contributor or award record →
Read the data in context.
The numbers below describe different kinds of outcomes. Their date, scope and reporting source are part of the result.
The One Show confirms a 2024 Gold Pencil for the short-film series. The accessible primary pages do not provide a sales uplift or a controlled change in parent preference. Their claims of emotional impact are promotional descriptions, not a published measurement method or evidence of a universal response.
The creative mechanism.
Let the brand play a truthful supporting role beside something customers value more.
Concede something the audience already knows
A small admission can make a brand’s remaining claim more credible. Identify a real hierarchy in the customer’s life and place the product honestly within it. The technique fails when the concession disguises an important defect or when an audience needs reassurance about safety, reliability or accessibility rather than an amusing declaration of inferiority.
Keep the absent product legible
A product can be the subject of a scene without being used at that moment. Its position, familiar shape and relationship to the action must still make its function clear. Test a still frame without explanatory copy: can someone name the category and understand why it belongs there, or does the brand simply disappear?
Celebrate the customer without demanding sacrifice
Acknowledging care is different from implying that good parents must always provide constant physical availability. Adapt the principle inclusively across different caregivers and circumstances. Review whether the idea unintentionally judges people who use childcare, adaptive equipment or different routines, and avoid presenting a sentimental scene as practical parenting guidance.
Translate the contrast, not just the footage
The central relationship can survive in a poster because both the person and the unused object are visible together. A small-screen version may need a different crop or pacing. Build channel-specific tests around whether the contrast is understood, rather than assuming that a successful film frame automatically works in every placement.
The intended behavior loop
- 01Recognise a caregiver’s priority
- 02See the product’s supporting role
- 03Explore the children’s range
Growth job: Build category affinity. This is an interpretation of the mechanism, not an audited attribution model.
A direction to take into the room.
Original editorial interpretation and proposed adaptation. This is a proposed adaptation, not historical campaign execution or a forecast.
The transferable principle
Let the brand play a truthful supporting role beside something customers value more.
Keep these boundaries
Do not reproduce the slogan or suggest that furniture should substitute for caregivers, or that caregivers must substitute for safe equipment.
Turn the lesson into a test.
Illustrative adaptation, not a historical campaign fact
A small-team experiment
A craft-tools shop tests a still-life series celebrating the maker’s skill while tools remain visible beside the finished work.
Build the test
- Commission and pay one adult maker; clear permission for their image and work.
- Show a specific tool and an accurate task it supports, without unverified performance claims.
- Test the customer-first composition against a conventional tool-led image.
Measure the right thing
Measure correct brand and category recall, qualified product clicks and whether respondents understand the supporting role.
Know when to stop
Stop if people interpret the ad as a product defect claim or the credited maker feels misrepresented.
How this reading fits your brief
Start with the useful part.
Best for: Build category affinity
What to adapt: Let the brand play a truthful supporting role beside something customers value more.
Prerequisites: Truthful product evidence; Consent and production rights; Measurement and customer support.
Smaller-team route: A craft-tools shop tests a still-life series celebrating the maker’s skill while tools remain visible beside the finished work.
Budget: Not verified in opened primary records. No cost-fit claim is made.
Trade-offs and evidence: Read the limits below before choosing a test. There is no guaranteed reach, sales lift or ROAS.
Questions for your next brief
- What useful product truth makes this idea credible?
- Which behaviour would show that attention became relevant interest?
Sources & further reading.
Brand and award-entry results are attributed claims, not independent causal audits. Source links open the original third-party pages.
- IKEA: Proudly second best →Primary brand, contributor or award record · Supports: Products, caregiver scenes, franchise markets and brand interpretation.
- Ogilvy: Proudly Second Best →Primary brand, contributor or award record · Supports: Agency credits and three executions.
- The One Show: Proudly Second Best →Primary brand, contributor or award record · Supports: Objective, channels, production credits and exact 2024 Gold category.
Independent educational analysis of external campaigns. These are not SNS client projects, endorsements or claims of involvement. Campaign facts and reported outcomes are attributed to their sources. Explanations, adaptations and test plans are original analysis and hypotheses, not proven causal findings.