Through the medium of mice, Amsterdam-based Strawberryfrog wants you to rethink your life, and in the process, rethink Ikea and what they sell. We may not quite understand it here in Canada, but in Europe, mice have greater meaning. ‘The mice are a metaphor for someone who is bland and introverted,’ says expat Canadian Scott Goodson, one of the founders of global agency Strawberryfrog. ‘The expression is, if you’re a boring person – timid and introverted – you’re a little gray mouse. But you don’t have to be bland anymore.’
The holiday campaign for Ikea – consisting of huge outdoor boards posted in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – is an extension of an earlier campaign from last September which utilized the grey mice and the slogan, ‘Why be Grey?’ The current campaign, with quirky creative such as two rascally children dressed as mice who have tied up Santa Claus with Ikea’s multi-purpose indoor lights strings, emphasizes the notion of living big at Christmas time, with the slogan, ‘Live Big.’
‘[The campaign is to] get people to rethink Ikea and come in to stores and get Ikea,’ says Goodson. ‘It’s not for the rich, it’s for the wise. It’s great designed stuff with a great price tag.’
Credits
Client: Ikea
Agency: Strawberryfrog
Executive Creative Director: Scott Goodson
Copywriter: Olaf Zwetsloot
Art Director: Peter Hamelinck
Photographer: Carl-Johan Paulin
Producer: Cornelie De Kroes
Planner: Didi Sutisna
Account Director: Roberta Bantel
Account Manager: Birgit Zimmermann
