IKEA’s new Toronto-shot ad is all about “beautiful possibilities”

Everything’s connected: our homes, our stories and the world we want to live in. That’s the theme of IKEA Canada’s new Beautiful Possibilities campaign, which kicked off with a 90-second ad earlier this month.

Shot in Toronto, the video begins with a flyover of the city. We see a young girl looking out the back seat of the family car, on her way home from a trip to IKEA. As she narrates the words to Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” she takes in the scenery—a residential streetscape, a neighbour installing solar panels on his roof, an apartment balcony that looks like a garden in the sky. Interspersed are scenes from the lives of a diverse range of Canadians, young and old.

The campaign is a love letter to Canada and its support of diversity, social change and sustainability—values that are key to IKEA’s brand identity.

The corporation has donated more than $190,000 in home furnishings in 2017 to Syrian refugees as part of the government of Canada’s pledge to welcome 25,000 refugees to the country. What’s more, IKEA enables millions of Canadians to live more sustainably at home, with products designed to save water and energy. In 2015, the company became the first major Canadian retailer to only sell LED bulbs and lighting to help their customers live a more sustainable life at home.

“At IKEA Canada we’re aware that we live in a time when the world is filled with uncertainty, expectations and everyday pressures,” says Lauren MacDonald, marketing manager at IKEA Canada. “Our role is to help enable Canadians to see what is possible—in their homes and in the world.”