Title | THISABLES |
Brand | IKEA |
Product/Service | DEMOCRATIZING HOME-FURNITURE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WITH 3D PRINTED ADD-ON |
Category |
F02. Environmental / Social Impact |
Entrant
|
McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
Idea Creation
|
McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
Media Placement
|
UM Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
PR
|
McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
Production
|
McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
Credits
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.