“Peeing on this ad may change your life.” That’s what the most recent IKEA ad says, created by Swedish Agency Akestam Holst, Adweek’s International Agency of the Year.  If you are a pregnant woman and place some of your own urine on the magazine ad, the test strip will reveal a 50% discount giving you the friends and family price on a new crib for your nursery.

I LOVE THIS STUFF! They placed this ad in Amelia magazine, one of Swedens most influential publications for women so that was pretty smart, but the best part is, they are getting millions of impressions of earned media as a reward for their creative approach. Remember some of IKEA’s past mattress commercials? They definitely not the typical ad.

The crib ad got me to thinking; how many children are conceived on mattresses each year? So you are telling me we are directly involved in the act of making babies? We sell baby making platforms? Our products participate in the act of creating some of the brightest minds on the planet? Want to still push price and promotion? How about 50% OFF OF THESE BABYMAKERS!

Wouldn’t the baby making process be a fun way to sell a mattress?  I have talked about this several times in my blog and it is still true; people have sex on our products. Are you telling me that there isn’t a clever way to use that angle to make mattresses a little more interesting?

As we approach 2018 push hard to do the unexpected. Suprise people with something fun and memorable. Look at your business through a different lens and break through the sea of sameness. Work a little harder at that and your customer will reward you for it if you find the sweet spot. I guarantee it.

Thanks to my good buddy Lance Beshore for sending me the ad. You know me well.