There really is no escaping the rush of new mattress brand entrants, many of which like to blanket the internet with awareness campaigns. The only way IKEA could be heard was to wait for its competitors to be quiet.

Somehow, our culture has prioritized being busy (or simply getting sucked into a Youtube rabbit hole) when they should be sleeping. So IKEA and Rethink reminded people of the importance of sleep while they were avoiding it, with ads that ran on YouTube between 10:30pm and 3:30am. IKEA’s Swedish spokesman interrupted viewers by asking why they were up watching cat videos or sports highlights, and gave them the time, noting when IKEA would be open again so they could purchase a better mattress in the morning.

Whispering sweet Swedish nothings in sleepy ears worked, and the campaign led to a 17% increase in traffic to IKEA.ca, as well as a Gold in Connection Strategy and a Silver in Data/Tech.