Bringing Living Rooms To Life

In my copy and layout class we learned about using powerful imagery as the focal point for the advertisements we create. Sometimes an image alone is able to produce such a strong message, there is no need for supporting body copy. These are the advertisements I found that I liked the most. They seemed more interesting and compelling. Their strong imagery seemed to give them a louder personality than the everyday advertisement.

I came across the following four outdoor advertisements while researching examples of advertisements containing powerful imagery for a project. They were created for Ikea by the advertising agency Zig and were released in Canada during November and December 2008 (Advertolog, 2015, para.1).

 



(Advertolog, 2015a)

 

 

(Advertolog, 2015b)




(Advertolog, 2015d)

 




(Advertolog, 2015c)

 

At first glance these advertisements seem simplistic in nature, but they are very complex in the amount of thought and detail that has gone into them. The closer I looked at them, the more detail I began to see.  

The advertisements appear to be aerial views of fully decorated rooms within a household ready for the upcoming holiday season. Two of the advertisements show the top of Christmas trees and two stockings can be seen hanging from a fireplace in another. The background for each advertisement is made to appear like a hardwood floor. The focal point of each advertisement is a single word: “Hope,” “Joy,” “Love,” and “Paix.” Each letter of the word is comprised of furniture and household items that can be purchased from Ikea stores. As well, each advertisement contains people relaxing and enjoying themselves, as they would be if the room was in an actual household.

Looking at the “Joy” billboard, the 3-D aspect to them really makes them stand out. The idea of placing an actual couch, table and chairs on a billboard seems shocking and unexpected. I think they break through the clutter and stand out amongst the everyday billboard advertisements. They are memorable due to their unique design.

I really like how each advertisement provides an interior design idea based on the items available at Ikea stores. They made me envision what different rooms in my house could look like and what each room in my house would currently look like from an aerial viewpoint.

My favourite advertisement out of the above four is “Hope.” What is your favourite out of the four?

 

 

 

References:

Advertolog. (2015a). Hope. Retrieved from http://www.advertolog.com/ikea-356105/billboard/hope-12666905/

Advertolog. (2015b). Love. Retrieved from http://www.advertolog.com/ikea-356105/billboard/love-12666955/

Adertolog. (2015c). Joy. Retrieved from http://www.advertolog.com/ikea-356105/billboard/joy-12707705/

Advertolog. (2015d). Paix. Retrieved from http://www.advertolog.com/ikea-356105/billboard/paix-12666855/