Lessons for creatives hidden in IKEA’s grime-themed Christmas ad
“Badda Bop Bop” — what an ad! It celebrates the perseverance and authenticity of artists and tapping into something bigger when responding to client briefs, says Ian Paynton…
I once wrote a blog about how the UK’s “grime” music was about to go big.
That was four years ago and two recent events have convinced me the genre is finally on the map.
First, grime star Stormzy smashed the global cover of TIME magazine:
Second, IKEA launched an epic Christmas ad with legendary (but pretty underground) grime artist D Double E, called “Silence The Critics”.
It’s probably the best ad I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve “wheeled it up” (started it from the beginning due to pure excitement) on YouTube three times already.
Check it out for yourselves:
I’ll be presenting this video to my team at We Create Content in Vietnam this week, as part of our monthly “Be Inspired Day”.
Why?
Because there are at least five lessons for creatives buried in this not very Christmassy Christmas ad.
1. As creatives, perseverance wins
D Double E has been doing Grime since the music genre didn’t even have a name.
I bet he didn’t think he’d be able to make such a living off the genre. But that didn’t stop him from plugging away, album after album, show after show, and always rapping his trademark intro lyric “BADDA BOP BOP”.
15 years later and he’s known as the pioneer who’s still relevant. This takes dedication and patience, which is something I hope my staff can have with their careers in the creative industry (and something I hope clients can have when rolling out our long term content marketing strategies!).
2. Be authentic, always
As Apple Music’s Austin Darbo tweets, the creative agency Mother has used an artist with a very distinctive underground style. They’ve not tried to shape him into something he’s not. They’ve hired him for his authenticity and done it proudly.
3. Think differently for open-minded clients
It would have been easy to do the same ol’ Christmas ad with the same tired sentiments — warm snuggles and snow covered jingles.
But this not-so festive yet genius treat is a great example of doing something unexpected for a client that’s forward-thinking enough to embrace it.
4. It’s all about timing!
The brains behind this have tapped into something bigger — just at the right time.
They know their audience demographics, have understood the nuances of their shared cultural understandings and know that grime is trending.
The stars have aligned and a creative director has been aware enough to do something brilliant. I hope my team can be inspired and tuned in enough to do the same for our clients in Vietnam and Asia.
5. Great ideas inspire others
Something as good as “Silence The Critics” gets people talking, tweeting and making more content.
Such as this video from Vice in partnership with IKEA, who, at this point, must be loving life, their creative agency and grime music for making Christmas 2019 one to remember.
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Originally published at https://wecreatecontent.asia on January 27, 2021.
