Ikea’s tongue-twisting product names just got even more outlandish.
The Swedish company has renamed some of its best selling products after the top relationship questions searched for on Google as part of a new marketing campaign.
A double bed previously known as “Lonset” is now “How to have a happy relationship,” while a magnetic chalk board called “Luns” is now sold under the name “He can’t say he loves me.”
The products are all listed on a new website called “Ikea Retail Therapy.”
According to Akestam Holst, the Swedish creative agency behind the marketing campaign, the names are based on the premise that Ikea’s products are “designed to solve everyday dilemmas.”
“What better way to connect Ikea’s products to people’s actual lives is there than the questions about everyday life people actually ask on Google?” asked Magnus Jakobsson, the agency’s creative director.
The idea is that when people search Google for help with a specific problem, they’ll find a product with the exact same name on the Ikea website.
So what are Ikea’s solutions? Here are some examples:
My partner snores: a single daybed.
He doesn’t text back: USB charger for a phone.
How to say I’m not interested: a garlic press.
My girlfriend won’t do the dishes: built-in dishwasher.
Clicking on each of the renamed products takes users to the original Ikea site, where they can buy it — albeit under its original name.
“Of course, we’re not saying that we can solve every relationship problem people might have, but perhaps we can remind them of the fact that Ikea might be able to offer you some relief,” Jakobsson said.
Ikea product names are traditionally Scandinavian, which can often make them quite tricky for foreigners to pronounce. There’s even a system behind the company’s naming conventions.
Sofas and armchairs are often named after places in Sweden. Beds names are places in Norway. The names of bathroom items are derived from Scandinavian lakes.
