Ikea Heights
von Mark Howells-Mead
Film maker Dave Seger and his crew are rapidly gaining a lot of attention for the internet melodrama series “Ikea Heights“. According to Dave’s own blog and an increasing number of websites which are linking to his videos and the official website, the episodes were recorded at the Ikea store in Burbank, California without the permission or knowledge of the Swedish company.
Whether the spontaneity and recording of the sequences has been inspired by a sense of fun or a secret viral advertising agreement with Ikea is, in fact, unclear. What is evident is that the viral aspect of the short films are gaining an increasing amount of attention. The facts that Ikea has already carried out a highly successful online campaign featuring modern media and that there has already been a series – Easy to Assemble – filmed at the Burbank Ikea store and featuring well known actors Jeff Goldblum and Illeana Douglas means that this latest set of videos hints at a co-operation between the film makers and the furniture company; perhaps as a guerilla alternative to the more obvious and professional version.
This theory is also borne out by the fact that my personal experience of trying to take even snapshot photos inside an Ikea store is that the seemingly omnipresent yellow-shirted staff are pretty good at spotting cameras: making it extremely unlikely that a group filming – even with with a digital SLR – would remain unnoticed.
Either way, the videos, available through the official website, are entertaining and worth watching. As a web designer, I also find it interesting that the website is powered by tumblr.com, a free website service. This would tie in with the low-cost personal publishing mentality which is so prominent in the world of social networking.
Geschrieben von Mark Howells-Mead am 4. September 2009 um 11:36 | Permalink
Tags (Schlagworte): advertising, america, burbank, california, film making, guerilla, IKEA, ikea heights, jeff goldblum, marketing, viral
Хм… читаю блоги по близкой тематике, а к Вам ни разу не наведывалась.
7. September 2009 um 10:29
Очень интересно и занимательно было почитать.
8. September 2009 um 18:07
Прочёл несколько разделов… Добавил в избранное, хороший блог.
11. September 2009 um 14:02
Administrator antwortet:
Thank you for your comments!
23. September 2009 um 11:16