Ikea is trying really hard to bust the lockdown boredom the northern hemisphere is battling its way through.
The furniture god’s solution has been to transform its famous catalogue into a podcast.
It’s a farewell, as Ikea gradually phases out its behemoth catalogue (the podcast clocks in at nearly four hours), which is set to retire in October.
Similar to the slow TV channel Ikea brought out a couple of years ago, and the sleep podcast before that, the catalogue podcast is a rhythmic read-through of every page.
“We know that by now, you’ve probably binged through every possible podcast, audiobook and ‘Best of 2020’ playlist there is, so maybe you could use some new soothing sounds to put on while we all continue for normal life to get back to … normal,” the narrator says.
“Curl up and get comfortable, even if comfort passes now as one earbud in while using your other ear to try and teach your kids common core maths.”
Ad agency Ogilvy New York worked with Ikea to create what could be a new, slightly disturbing way of redesigning your living space.
“To create the first-ever audio version of the iconic Ikea catalog it took 286 catalogue pages transcribed into 64 pages of written copy, with over 1000 product descriptions, 69 legal disclaimers, plus more than seven mentions of veggie balls, recorded and mixed for over 135 hours of studio time, all to create an immersive and inspiring three-hour, 41-minute auditory experience for everyone to enjoy,” Ogilvy’s Della Mathew said.
The podcast/catalogue is available on YouTube, Spotify and Audiobooks.com.
