Ikea’s newest social media campaign for the quarantine era helps families turn lockdown into adventures, turning the retailer's furniture in makeshift tents and castles for playtime.
Created by agency Instinct, the campaign was launched in Russia and includes a series of Ikea instructions for parents on how to make tents and forts indoors to create a sense of adventure for children cooped up at home as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The assembly instructions, designed using Ikea’s distinctive style, show how every day items like blankets, bedspreads, chairs and stools can be transformed into a new hideaway.
There are six different options to choose from; castle, fortress, wigwam, house, cave, and camping tent. The designs come with the warning that you should always be in attendance when children are playing.
Ikea Russia is also asking people to share their creations on social media with the hashtag #StayHome.
The IKEA Russia Instagram account encouraged people to share their creations with the hashtag #явдомикеикеа, which loosely translates to ‘I’m in an IKEA house’.
#StayHome was a general slogan of this spring,” explained Instinct in a press release. “Self-isolation and quarantine measures are ongoing. Parents no longer know how else they can entertain their children being stuck inside the four walls”.
“To those who are totally out of all ideas, IKEA Russia offers to build a play house using instruction and things which can be easy found in every home – blankets, bedspreads, chairs, stools, etc.”
Although each of the play houses can be built using items found in the house, IKEA has also suggested exact products that could be used to assemble the forts.
The Förtress, for example, is a traditional sofa fort with walls made using the cushions from IKEA’s Landskrona and a roof formed of two Nattjasmin sheets. A Mialotta throw and three Valbjörg cushions would provide comfort for the child inside the fort.
The Cåstle, which is made of four Stefan chairs and a Krokig clothes stand wrapped a set of Blötsnö lights supporting Nattjasmin sheets fixed with clothes pegs, is one of the more complex designs.
Simpler forts include the Cåmping tent, which combines a Mulig clothes stand with a Nattjasmin sheet and the Wigwam, which places a sheet over a Tjusig coat stand.
