2021 Winner

Ambient and white noise playlists on Spotify are popular among sleep-deprived parents trying to get their baby to rest. However, more than half the platform’s users don’t pay for the service and so their baby’s sleep tends to be interrupted by loud ads mid-stream.

IKEA and Rethink wanted to help parents have a more peaceful sleep, so they found the most popular calming playlists and purchased all of the ad units. It then placed 11 gentle spots featuring the brand’s Swedish mascot whispering sweet nothings (“So soothing. Not loud selly kitchen ads.”)

Some of the ads also promoted the retailer’s bedroom products, such as its pillows (“You’re still up. What a pain in the neck. You know how to deal with a pain in the neck?”), while baby slept. The campaign helped increase bedroom sales online by 7.1% in a category that was experiencing a 0.9% decline.

Credits

CCO: Aaron Starkman
Executive Creative Director: Mike Dubrick
Head of Art: Joel Holtby
Creative Director: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick, Leia Rogers, Morgan Tierney, Hans Thiessen, Joel Holtby
Art Director: Charmaine Cheng
Writer: Evan Kane
Head of Strategy: Sean McDonald
Strategy Director: Stacy Ross, Shereen Ladha
Broadcast Producer (in house): Anna Tricinci
Production Company: Vapor Music
Audio Director: Ted Rosnick
Engineer: Ryan Chalmers
Audio Producer: Kat Stewart
Media: Carat
Account Services: Sarah Riedlinger, Daniel Riggi
Agency: Carat
Vice President, Group Account Director: Karen Hrstic
Account Director: Tracey Cronin
Account Director: Vanessa Coutinho
Media Planner: Monalyn Quelnat
Media Assistant: Crystal Kim