Newsletter
Slice of Life: Ikea Soothes Gen Z With Lo-Fi and Anime
As mellow as you'd imagine
Ikea goes anime! And the result is super mellow. Its “Find Your Slice of Life” campaign offers a branded take on the “slice of life” anime sub-genre, which, chill by nature, elevates and celebrates the intimate details of daily existence.
In “Compromise,” two roommates find harmony through Ikea’s organizational solutions:
The campaign’s soothing visuals, wordless lo-fi beats and low-stakes conflicts—brought to you by Ogilvy New York, with renowned animation studio Clubcamping—leave us feeling sleepy and blissed-out.
“The real-life focus of the ‘slice of life’ sub-genre of anime fits hand-in-glove with the Ikea mission—to create a better everyday for people,” explain Ogilvy creative directors Sho Matsuzaki and Fanny Josefsson.
Gen Z “are the heroes of this campaign,” they add. Each vignette punctuates some aspect of fledgling adult life—from dorm dynamics to the plight of college students still living at home. That’s the story in “Study Space.”
“Growing up watching anime in the ’90s in America, you were definitely labeled as part of a niche crowd—not everyone was up late watching Cowboy Bebop reruns on Toonami or pretending you were Goku in your bedroom,” Matsuzaki tells Muse. “But just as we’ve seen how Dungeons & Dragons has hit the mainstream, there’s been a massive shift led by Gen Z for anime to become part of general pop culture.”
In “The 4th Roommate,” a curious cat wreaks tame havoc on a house where each inhabitant has something creatively different going on. It eventually settles inside a padded Ikea bag.
The campaign feels like an ode to common things—the stuff that makes early adulthood prickly, but also sublime. Being able to just chill in that space, without an overwrought narrative (or much of any), helps Ikea make its mark.
We know the brand offers solutions, even if it doesn’t get too specific. That’s something Ikea uses to its advantage. The Swedish chain often makes a strategic point of allowing furniture to take second place in its storytelling, and this anime style pushes that to an extreme. Everything basically melts into the background, all fodder for the vibe. The exception is Ikea’s shopper bag, which is so iconic that Balenciaga once sold a $2,145 clone.
The work will appear on TikTok.
Angela Natividad is the European markets editor at Muse by Clio. She also writes about gaming and fashion, and whatever else she’s interested in, really. She’s based in Paris and North Italy, so if you’re local, say hi. She might eat all your food.
