DEMOCRATIZING HOME-FURNITURE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WITH 3D PRINTED ADD-ON
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
Why is this work relevant for Integrated?
Ikea is the first ever major-retailer to democratize the use of its furniture by making it accessible to people with disabilities. How did we do it?
Inspired by Ikea’s mission “to create a better everyday life for as many people as possible”, we knew that we had to take the lead and in turn challenge a market that had sold people with special needs overpriced and ugly furniture.
Background
1 in 10 people in Israel is suffering a form of physical disability. This audience struggles with tasks others take for granted, such as opening a closet, switching on a lamp or getting up from a sofa (IKEA’s sofas too, unfortunately).
Our brief was straightforward: open a new market for IKEA by bridging the gap between IKEA’s products and the special needs of people with disabilities. Strategically, rectifying this situation posed a double win for IKEA: tapping into an old-new audience, one that craves IKEA furniture which they could easily use & fixing the one major dissonance the brand was facing - creating a better life, truly for everyone. This is IKEAs ThisAbles project.
Describe the creative idea
This insight shaped our approach: rather than design a new line of special-needs furniture which will be more expensive and not scalable, we would hack our existing designs with a range of add-ons to make our most accessible products accessible: sofa elevating-legs for easier ascend, lamp button-enlargement, super-zipper for pillows-covers.
Introducing ThisAbles by IKEA: democratizing home-furniture for people with disabilities with 3D printed add-ons.
In order to create a really comprehensive IKEA EXPERIENCE, we had to exceed expectations, to ensure 2 major conditions are fulfilled: firstly, we had to provide the IKEA design quality: beautiful, functional, and simple. Secondly, it had to be affordable and easily accessible.
We made the add-ons fully accessible, virtually and physically: open-source designs, available to 3d print, from anywhere in the world. And to enable people with disabilities to watch, touch and experience them, we constructed the first-ever accessible space in the IKEA stores.
Describe the strategy
We can only imagine the daily struggles people with disabilities go through in order to survive in the outside world - public transportation, stairs, restaurants, shops, and the list goes on. You’d expect that their own home would be a place of comfort, but the truth is that is at home where they are reminded the most: “you are disabled”.
By listening to the insights coming from the community we have found out what people with disability truly want – to be part of the mainstream, not singled-out as being different. They wanted to enjoy what the same things everyone else did, including furniture.
Describe the execution
We partnered with the leading non-profit organizations in Israel that specialize in improving the life of the disabled. We spent close and intense time with people with disabilities. Together, we arranged a one-week hackathon, hosting product engineers, accessibility experts, psychologists, and IKEA’S designers –coming up with 13 add-ons, each solving a different accessibility problem.
We created the ultimate exhibition that no one could miss: online –we developed a new and designated website, ThisAbles.com, offering all add-ons in an open-source file, ready to be 3D printed or modified from every spot in the world. We also prepared 13 video-tutorials to make sure functionality and installment are clear and easy.
Physical - we constructed the first-of-it’s-kind IKEA ACCESIBLE SPACE, inviting people with disabilities to fully experience IKEA. Our new 13 add-ons were spread all over our different departments, applied on our iconic items, inviting the general public to try the products
List the results
More than 45,000 people from 127 countries visited our website ThisAbles.com, thousands of them downloading and 3D printing our add-ons. The sales of our 13 iconic items grew up by 33%, shortly after the project was launched
ThisAbles also drove one of the biggest organic international coverage in the history of Israeli brands, with PR value of $4M and reach of 489M unique users!
Media coverage came from all over the world, including publications like the Washington Post, Fast Company, The Verge, and The Independent.
+1500% in no. of visits to the websites of the Non-profit accessibility organizations we partnered with.