How iProspect and Mother Put the Nation to Bed... And IKEA on Top

Client: IKEA

Despite being the #2 home category, IKEA held only 5.6% market share in beds and mattresses versus 22.3% in overall bedroom furniture. The brand's low prices were mistaken for low quality in a specialist-heavy category where competitors outspent IKEA on single-product verticals.

iProspect and Mother identified media as the biggest sleep disruptor and developed the counterintuitive strategy: "The World doesn't want you to sleep. IKEA mattresses do." Rather than compete traditionally, they used media platforms themselves to encourage switching off, turning barriers into bridges to better sleep.

The agencies created platform-native content that comedically crushed digital distractions with IKEA mattresses. High-impact partnerships included ITV continuity announcements, Acast's "The Podcast That Nobody Finished," and IKEA's first gaming activation across platforms from Candy Crush to TikTok.

The campaign dramatically shifted perceptions and drove business growth. Quality perceptions improved among ITV viewers, placing IKEA as the nation's second-preferred mattress retailer. Organic traffic surged with "IKEA beds" searches year-on-year. Most importantly, IKEA sold more mattresses. The equivalent of an extra 60 million nights on IKEA mattresses.