IKEA’s interest in food isn’t quite as well advertised as its homewares and furniture business, but it’s definitely not an afterthought for the company. And if IKEA ever wants to merge its DIY philosophies with cooking grub at home, marketeers from Leo Burnett’s Toronto office hit the jackpot with their “Cook This Page” campaign.
It started out as an “in-store promotion for IKEA Canada” back in late 2016, according to the Leo Burnett website.
The idea was to create posters with recipes on them, with the recipe itself made from paper and ink that was not only edible, but safe to stick in the microwave or oven.
It goes without say it was a huge success, though we’ll let the agency say it anyway:
With step-by-step instructions and a list of ingredients precisely illustrated on the parchment paper to match actual proportions, the only thing one had to do was add food, roll it all up and bake it. The recipes incorporated IKEA food items and brought attention to the company’s kitchen product lines.
IKEA store managers created in-store events across Canada to show that cooking can be fun, simple and exploratory. The posters were also offered to customers to take home. All 12,500 parchment paper recipes available in 18 locations were snatched up within hours.
Making the paper was the hardest part; unsurprisingly printers that can work with “unique substrate (parchment) and food-safe ink” aren’t a dime a dozen. Sadly, the company doesn’t go into detail about the science behind it.
Before you ask, no, there are no plans to transform it into an ongoing product. I think it’s a missed opportunity, but it might come down to the economics of making the paper en masse, which is a fair enough reason not to do it at scale.
Cannes Contenders: ‘IKEA: Cook This Page’ [Leo Burnett, via IKEA Hackers]
Comments