DEMOCRATIZING HOME-FURNITURE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WITH 3D PRINTED ADD-ON
Category
F01. Integrated Campaign Led by Direct
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
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
Why is this work relevant for Direct?
This case is as direct as it gets: identifying an audience, deeply understanding them, with a targeted message to elicit a direct response, driving business results. But this idea goes far beyond a campaign: we used our understanding to build a set of products to meet the day-to-day needs of our audience of people living with motor disabilities, made on demand, responding to their interest. We understood that while the rules of direct marketing are to single people out, what this audience really wanted was to be part of IKEA just like everyone else.
Background
A tenth of the world suffers from serious disabilities. That is 1 in 10 people who not only fight to live normally outside, but struggle with the most basic home activities. Things that we take for granted - they battle with: turning on the light, getting up from the couch. IKEA’s couch too, unfortunately. So if IKEA’s mission is “creating a better life for as many people as possible”, we knew we had do better. Our new mission: take disability into consideration - and change their reality for the better. Especially since special-needs furniture twice as expensive as regular furniture with limited choice. From there, the brief was straightforward: Bridge the gap between IKEA’s products and people with disabilities in order to create a significant improvement in their ability to enjoy IKEA’s products - making sure that our consumers disabilities will no longer stand (or sit) in their way.
Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)
This insight shaped our approach: rather than design a new line of special-needs furniture, we would hack our existing range with a range of add-ons to make our most accessible products accessible.
ThisAbles project hacks the iconic home-furniture giving access to IKEA’s design and simplicity in an affordable and easily accessible format: using 3D printed, open-source designs: sofa elevating-legs for easier ascent, lamp button-enlargement, super-zipper for pillows-covers.
We made the add-ons available in store and online to download free and 3D print. Each add-on was essentially a call to action sending users to buy one of the specific iconic products in store or on IKEA webpage.
Describe the strategy (20% of vote)
To make a change in millions of lives, we had to start with the people themselves. How can you specifically engage your target audience? When they have special needs - you need to truly understand their experience first: people with disabilities feel their furniture yells “crippled”. But in order to provide a solution that they would truly want - you have to make them feel part of the mass, not the exclusion. The grand insight: they just want to enjoy the same IKEA items - not settle for special-made furniture. So we decided to hack our own instead of launching a whole separate line, developing 13 add-ons to our most essential products: Sofa elevating-legs for easier ascend, lamp button-enlargement, super-zipper for pillows-covers. Thus, we optimized our user experience by simplifying it to the fullest: free and easy download, free and easy add-on to your furniture.
Describe the execution (20% of vote)
In order to truly meet the needs of our target audience, and to drive an effective response - we decided to bring their input into the project. During a one-week hackathon, hosting our product engineers, designers, accessibility experts and psychologists, we created a range of add-ons that can be used with IKEA’s most iconic products, each solving a different accessibility problem.
The project is open-source and continues to grow with new designs, based on the insights coming from users themselves, adding new add-ons every month.
Rather than a traditional targeted brand campaign, that would single them out, we launched the idea within the community by using social media influencers who suffer from disabilities to promote it. We told real human stories, of persons living with disability and the benefits the add-ons can bring.
List the results (30% of vote)
The response rate within the special needs target audience was off the charts: what started in Israel, became a global solution through our online platform. More than 45,000 people from 127 countries visited our website and downloaded the add-ons. We also drove a 1500% traffic increase to the websites of our partners - non-profit accessibility organizations. Finally, this led to a 28,5% traffic increase on the IKEA website, bringing 280,000 unique visitors more than last year’s campaign.
Most importantly, we met our business target in 2 critical engagement points: the sales of the supported products grew by 37% in volume, while the overall revenue grew by 33% versus the same period in 2018.
Finally, the global access to IKEA retail footprint turned ThisAbles into the biggest global platform for people with disabilities