Ikea Launching New Branding Campaign, Contest

Ikea is partnering with Against All Odds Productions to present a photo contest, "America at Home," which coincides with a major new branding campaign, "Home Is the Most Important Place in the World."

The campaign includes a TV spot, which IKEA has posted to its Web site: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/home_campaign/americaathome.html. The 60-second commercial includes voiceover: "It's a place for love. It's a place for memories. It's a place for laughter. It's a place to share. It's a place for peace. It's your own place. Because wherever you live, whoever you are home is the most important place in the world." The spot ends with IKEA logo and Web site and tag on a black screen.

Copy on the Web site explaining the home campaign reads, "Ikea believes that homes are not just made of bricks and mortar with four walls. Home is an emotion--a feeling of security, safety, comfort, peace, about being yourself and being together with your loved ones. Home is the place where memories are made, relationships are built, where children and families grow together. Ikea believes that regardless of where you live or who you are, home is the most important place in the world."

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"America at Home" is being organized by the same Sausalito, Calif.-based company that produced the books A Day in the Life of America, America 24/7, 24 Hours in Cyberspace and One Digital Day. Other sponsors of this photo project include Google, Snapfish, Nikon, FotoNation.net and O'Reilly Digital Media.

Given the nature of "America at Home," it is not surprising that Ikea, a company synonymous with the concept of home, is the project's strategic partner, according to the project Web site.

In addition to serving as lead underwriter of the project, Ikea is both promoting "America at Home" in its stores and extending an invitation to its customers to participate.

"Our partnership and support for the America at Home project is a perfect fit," says Pernille Lopez, the president of Ikea's U.S. operations.

Until Sept. 23, the retailer is inviting amateur photographers to join 100 of the nation's leading photojournalists to capture the rituals, emotions, intimate moments and events that transform your house into a home.

Customers are invited "to help document the harmonies and paradoxes of home life across America." Contestants can sign up at myamericaathome.com to receive the "Daily Clicks Heard 'Round the Nation" assignments--morning rush, what's for dinner, bedtime rituals--themes that are related to home and are different for each of us.

Submitted photos will be considered for inclusion in the "America at Home" book and related media events. Immediately following the shoot week, a group of award-winning newspaper and magazine editors will gather to review the millions of submissions and to put together the story of "America at Home." The end result will be a coffee table book and a Web site.

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