“Make happiness a habit you cultivate, and let your bedroom be the starting gate.”
This is the final line of the dreamy narration heard in a new IKEA ad, which came out of Amsterdam and was produced by the agency Havas Lemz and CZAR Amsterdam.
The quick, 65 second video, titled “Fully Charged,” promotes the importance of sleep and a good bedroom setup, yet manages to mask the direct adversarial nature of it through a calming narration that sounds like someone reading a bedtime story or nursery rhyme to a child:
“Embrace the darkness, cherish the peace, go on, give in to that sweet release;
Restore the balance in your mind, float through dreams of any kind.”
Previewed by and viewable on AdWeek, the video shows two women going to a bed after successfully putting their baby down in his crib. While they sleep, images of a battery being charged flashes on the screen, indicating their rest is literally recharging them:
“Relax, unwind, you’ll make it through,” the narrator says, as the battery image moves up to 97%. “Almost fully charged now,” he mindfully hums.
As their batteries charge and the narrator continues to storytell, the women’s clothes are magically being put back into place, adding to this nursery-rhyme feeling. Alongside clothes being hung and shoes placed back on the rack are quick call-outs of IKEA products, ranging from a closet and set of blackout curtains to a boxspring and mattress topper. The text display includes the IKEA model name and price-point.
According to physician and sleep expert Dr. William C. Dement, new parents lose roughly two hours of sleep per night until their baby is five months old. From five months until two years, they lose an hour of sleep a night. So while this ads sounds like a storybook, it’s clearly aimed at parents who struggle to sleep well while raising a toddler.
The narrator cleverly resonates with his audience, speaking to the myriad of tasks and worries that can lead to sleepless nights:
“What consumes your mind controls your life, so use the nighttime to revive.”
Whether a parent or not, the video offers advice we’ve heard before: focus on getting good sleep in order to be fully charged in the morning. The jury is still out if IKEA itself has the products to get us there, but it’s no secret that a good sleep setup is important in order to fully rest and recharge.
Featured image: @ikeanederland on Instagram
