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[/responsive]If you spent any time on social media last week you probably saw the teaser for the 2015 IKEA catalog. The retail darling of the tech savvy set, IKEA took the opportunity to position their catalog as the most amazing, most high tech, most wondrous marketing tool ever. Because, as the video says, “it’s not a digital book, or an e-book. It’s a book book.”
Since they hit it out of the park last summer with their augmented reality 2014 catalog , we’ve been waiting all year see how they would top that.
They did not disappoint.
Introducing the catalog as “the original touch interface,” the company firmly positions print as the next big thing. Tongue in cheek to be sure, but there’s a strong message for marketers behind the mirth.
“Is print really dying? Not according to Ikea, which has good reason to still believe in dead trees. After all, the company prints around 200 million copies of its catalog every year in 27 languages for 38 countries,” writes Tim Nudd in AdWeek. “That’s more than twice the number of bibles produced in a given year.”
While the starry eyed look in the narrator’s eyes is the stuff of Oscar legends, IKEA is making a serious point about the real world engagement potential of printed catalogs. No cables, no power cords, no wifi needed; this catalog takes user engagement to a whole new level, with“a device so simple, so intuitive, using it seems almost familiar.”
Familiar indeed, in a world where it seems we have to relearn how we interact with our media every six months or so.
“The well-written campaign, by BBH Asia Pacific,” notes Hudd “invites you to ‘experience the power of a book’ and rediscover the original touch interface.’ Amazing features include ‘external battery life and pages that ‘load instantly, with zero lag.’”
IKEA deserves a round of applause for this, especially for the way they’ve taken the campaign across the board with a press release that raves about their “innovative content delivery system.”
Enjoy the catalog, and experience the power of a book book. Now “excuse me, that’s mine.”