| Title | THISABLES |
| Brand | IKEA |
| Product/Service | DEMOCRATIZING HOME-FURNITURE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WITH 3D PRINTED ADD-ON |
| Category |
B02. Use of Ambient Media: Small Scale |
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Entrant
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McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
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Idea Creation
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McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
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Media Placement
|
McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
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PR
|
McCANN Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
|
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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 |
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