FURNITURE, PUNS & WEDDINGS

You thought there were some things that just couldn’t be done online, like a wedding, for example? Well, you, my friend, along with probably millions of other people, are wrong.

Yesterday IKEA launched its newest service: Online weddings. No, this is not a joke, nor is this a drill. It is a real thing, dear readers. You can now plan your wedding, choose your virtual location and invite as many of your friends as you want, no matter where they are in the world. Formalities included (which means you are actually getting married on paper), and did I mention that it’s all for free?!

“Love at its simplest,” says the Online Wedding landing page. The explanation goes like this: “The best sort of love is easy and effortless. And promising one another eternal devotion at a wedding should be just as simple. That’s why we’ve created a new type of wedding that’s neither expensive nor complicated. Invite your friends – as many as you like and wherever they may be – and celebrate together via a video link. And if you’re not walking down the aisle (yet), we’ve got some inspiration and ideas for other parties for you. But if wedding bells do start to chime, then organizing a wedding is just a few clicks away for you and your partner.”

How is that for an innovative idea? Yes, there is this underlying love-hate relationship with IKEA that we all have (which is heavier on the “love” part for me, I must admit), but let’s be honest, they are always able to surprise us. Not only with home furnishings (and the amount of time they take to assemble), but with creative ideas like this one.

I must also add that I appreciate Ikea’s light-hearted approach when it comes to their advertising and appearances on social media. Take the Shelf Guru for example. After Groupon’s banana bunker viral hit on Facebook, Ikea was quick to come up with its own attempt to create a viral thread on their Facebook page. The Shelf Guru’s “pun intended” answers to customers’ questions were received well by the public and did in fact make it on to news sites.

Speaking about furniture that is time-consuming and sometimes very frustrating to assemble: IKEA wasn’t shy to own up to these facts and used it as a fun and quirky advertising piece. What better way to tell their customers about the assembly service they offer?

The idea came from the German agency Thjnk, who also came up with this genius out-of-home advertising campaign for the company in 2014:

In any case, some wit combined with lots of creativity keeps the Swedish furniture company fresh and top-of-mind year to year. Hats off to that (and the fact that they somehow managed to lure me into becoming an IKEA Family member, even though I’m not particularly fond of memberships)!

Oh, and in case you want to plan your online wedding tonight, you may do it here.