THISABLES

Grand Prix

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleTHISABLES
BrandIKEA
Product/ServiceDEMOCRATIZING HOME-FURNITURE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WITH 3D PRINTED ADD-ON
Category D02. Multi Channel Experience
Entrant McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Idea Creation McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Media Placement McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
PR McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Production McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Credits
Name Company Position
Sigal Abudy McCann TLV VP Creative
Eldad Weinberger McCann TLV CCO
Nadav Pressman McCann TLV CCO
Adrian Botan McCann Europe VP Creative
Eldar Yusupov McCann TLV Copywriter
Dana Moshkowitz McCann TLV Art Director
Kfir Peretz McCann TLV Art Director
Eddie Goldenberg McCann TLV Creative Technology
Idan Kravitz McCann TLV Copywriter
Yiftach Sarig McCann TLV Copywriter
Michal Popov McCann TLV VP Clients
Bat El Assyag McCann TLV Account Supervisor
Sapir Zagury-Geva McCann TLV Account Manager
Neva Zerah McCann TLV VP Production
Emmanuelle Raz McCann TLV Producer
Meital Zeevi McCann TLV Digital Producer
Keren Goldenzweig McCann TLV Strategic Planner
Catalin Dobre McCann Bucharest VP Creative
Carmen Bistrian McCann Europe CEM
Sanjiv Mistry McCann London ECD
Jamie Mietz ECD McCann London
Catalin Paduretu McCann Bucharest Art Director
Jeremy Reichman McCann London Producer
Corina Nica McCann Bucharest Corporate PR Executive
Yuval Wagner Access Israel founder
Michal Rimon Access Israel CEO
Nachman plotinzky Milbat NGO general manger
Yael shaked bregman Milbat NGO Deputy general manager
Mariana ben david Milbat NGO Industrial designer
Tomer Fadael Milbat NGO Industrial designer

Background

IKEA is known for its vast furniture and home appliances - taking pride in “creating a better everyday life for as many people as possible”. But what if we told you that for millions, IKEA was just not an option - until now. 1 in 10 people in the world suffer from serious disabilities - outside and at home. Which means 1 in 10 people have to compromise between functional furniture that screams “crippled” or beautiful but inaccessible ones. For them, IKEA’s designs were just not attainable: pretty but not functional. We wanted to change that. Our brief was straightforward: bridging the gap between IKEA’s products and the special needs of people with disabilities. Our objectives were clear: Create a significant improvement in the ability of people with disabilities to enjoy IKEA’s products thus allowing them to enjoy great designs in affordable prices that are also specifically accessible to them.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

IKEA is well known for supplying easy to build, affordable furniture that is designed for the modern-day home. So when we discovered that thousands couldn’t access IKEA’s easy and thoroughly designed solutions - we decided to act. The first thing we did was turn to our target audience who taught us that it’s the small things we as manufacturers tend to miss and it's the small things that can make IKEA’s products more accessible in every home. We decided to make the smallest change - with a huge impact: becoming the first ever major-retailer to revolutionize the use of its furniture for people with disabilities, for the first time giving them the option of design anywhere in the world. We hacked our own furniture, creating 13 small add-ons that could be simply 3-D printed and applied to our essential items - finally offering accessible furniture that doesn’t set anyone apart.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Bringing ThisAbles to life had to start with the design and one question: how can we make our products accessible? The answer: a one-week hackathon, hosted with our target audience turned advisors, consulting with product engineers, accessibility experts, psychologists, and IKEA’S designers. Together we focused on inventing the right add-ons that would truly simplify the use of our products. Ultimately, we created 13 add-ons, each solving a different accessibility issue: Sofa elevation for easier ascent, super-zipper for our pillows-covers, lamp button-enlargement for easy lighting. We made sure our new products were not only affordable but looked exactly like their smaller existing versions, thus keeping with IKEA’s original clean designs. We wanted to make our designs accessible and consistent even through 3-D printer - so we also designed a manual to recreate them around the world. Basically, We designed a whole new way to use IKEA.

List the results (20% of vote)

ThisAbles drove one of the biggest organic international coverage campaigns in the history of Israeli brands, with PR value of $4M, reach of 489M unique users, and distribution among the biggest markets in the world. For a campaign originating in an 8M people country – that was overwhelming. The ThisAbles designs proved popular and were featured in the biggest design magazines in the world: Fast Company, The Verge, and The Independent and more, sparking diverse conversations: from positive thinking and social responsibility, to product innovation and digital technology. All this media made a difference and sent consumers to our website: More than 45,000 people from 127 countries visited ThisAbles.com, thousands of them downloading and 3D printing our add-ons. The bottom line: We designed a whole new way to allow people to be more able, straight from their own home - and never gave up on making it pretty too.