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Because Ikea literally has everything you could ever want, the Swedish retailer just released a 25-minute long ASMR video to advertise their back-to-school products—and lull you to sleep in the process.
If you’re unfamiliar with ASMR—or autonomous sensory meridian response—it’s a popular stress-relieving technique that uses sensory stimuli to relax you and even help you sleep. So if you’ve ever gotten a tingling feeling while listening to someone turn book pages or tap on a surface, that’s the basic gist of the concept.
In Ikea’s take on ASMR, a woman walks us through various dorm-themed products as she whispers descriptions. She taps on a wooden desk, smoothes out bedsheets, fluffs pillows, and pushes hangers along a metal wardrobe rod to produce different soothing sounds meant to relax ASMR listeners.
“Oddly Ikea” was produced by New York advertising agency Ogilvy. In addition to the longer video, where they did extensive research into the ASMR community to ensure an authentic take on the technique, Ikea and Ogilvy also released a series of shorter ASMR videos. Each is around a minute long and focuses on a specific Ikea items as opposed to an entire room, such as the Kallax shelf unit or the Småstarr duvet cover.
“We were shooting a back-to-college TV spot and wanted to extend it into online content. We knew that ASMR videos are very popular with young people, college students, and Ikea co-workers,” Della Mathew, Ogilvy’s creative director, and Kerri Homsher, Ikea’s external communications specialist, told Adweek. “We put two and two together: Our products are designed to help people every day. Our dorm room solutions help students relax after a long day. So we thought of content that does the same.”
This is the latest in a string of in-depth dorm-related content Ikea has recently produced this year. In July, the retailer released an extensive “Back to College” campaign that featured everything from checklists to style quizzes to help students pin down their dorm room decor aesthetic. That same month, Ikea ran a Snapchat campaign using web influencers to promote their back-to-school products.
Judging from the video’s YouTube comments, Ikea’s take on ASMR is already garnering (mostly) positive responses.
“I like it! You should totally team up with existing ASMRtists,” writes commenter sadagah117. “[There are] so many unique artists that you can match your products up with. The best ones get hundreds of thousands of views just in the first 48 hours.” Ikea may have just discovered a huge untapped marketplace.
“The format of ASMR videos allows you to deliver product benefits in a pleasant, calming way, something a TV spot or print ad doesn’t always succeed at,” said Mathew and Homsher. “We hope this demonstrates to everyone who watches that Ikea has solutions that make your home work better. But really, we hope it does what it’s supposed to do: Help everyone who watches it relax a little.”
Source: Adweek
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