A new series of commercials created for the United Arab Emirates, entitled 'Don't Worry, You Can Afford It', puts pets and the havoc they create squarely in the spotlight, showing various IKEA products, including planters, mugs, cushions, and vases, being knocked over by adorable cats and dogs.

If you’re struggling to move people to buy, analyze your ads to ensure you’re optimizing for the right mood. One study suggests that even browsing potential purchases (and not buying) alleviates feelings of sadness. To apply this to marketing, ensure your imagery mirrors the intended mood – as Calm does with peaceful, relaxing imagery in its meditation app ads. Make the ordinary feel extraordinary, which IKEA does with a clever crib ad. Work backward from the emotion you want people to feel to determine what mood your ads should invoke.

Most marketing today works by grabbing attention, making you emotional, and turning emotion into action. For this to work, your audience has to trust, like, and relate to you – which is where humor comes into play. One tactic is to make fun of yourself, as IKEA did with a playfully misassembled ad. You can also make extreme and humorous analogies to show how your customer’s life would look without your product. Alternatively, brands can take a bold stance against something in their industry they don’t agree with, as Verizon did with its “one size does not fit all” messaging.

During Milan Design Week, IKEA introduced the Brännboll gaming furniture collection, offering versatile pieces that cater to casual gamers and blend into everyday home decor while promoting comfortable and immersive gameplay. The collection includes innovative designs like an inflatable chair, a rocking easy chair for dynamic movement, spill-proof accessories, and multi-functional storage solutions that double as furniture.

The advertising industry tells consumers to ‘buy, buy, buy', yet overconsumption is one of the driving forces of climate change, energy shortages, and poor mental health. Brands can employ honest and clever ads to promote their products without encouraging consumers to buy irresponsibly. This article contains examples from IKEA and Volkswagen that use honest advertising to effectively promote a product.