IKEA Spain's 'Trapped in the '90s' reality show sells newness — new-product sales +169%

In 2021 IKEA stopped printing its catalog for sustainability reasons, losing its main channel for showing new products; visibility, inspiration and purchase intent fell while competition grew. For its 25th anniversary in Spain, IKEA needed a new way to make its newness famous.

Replace the discontinued catalog with entertainment: trap six people in a '90s home with no IKEA, and let each new product they earn visibly upgrade their life.

McCann made an eight-episode YouTube reality show: six Gen Z contestants lived four days in a 1990s house with no IKEA, facing period discomforts such as blankets instead of duvets and chaotic kitchen drawers, with the winner earning €3,000 of IKEA solutions. Contestant influencers amplified it on social, backed by a TV spot and IKEA Family extras.

New-product sales rose 169%, making IKEA Spain #2 worldwide in newness sales; €1.5M of new products sold in the first week, when sales soared 149%. The campaign delivered greater brand-building ROI than all of IKEA's brand-building communication for the whole year combined.

In 2021 IKEA stopped printing its famous catalog for sustainability reasons, removing its main tool for showing new products. Visibility fell, customers stopped finding inspiration, and purchase intent dropped just as competition in home furnishings intensified. IKEA Spain, celebrating 25 years in the country, needed a new way to make its newness famous.

McCann Madrid's answer was to make the product showcase itself the entertainment: 'Atrapados en los 90' (Trapped in the '90s), an eight-episode YouTube reality show. Six Gen Z contestants lived for four days in a 1990s house with no IKEA, enduring rotary phones, blankets instead of duvets and chaotic kitchen drawers, while earning new IKEA products that visibly improved their lives. The winner took home €3,000 of IKEA solutions.

The results made it one of IKEA Spain's most important communication milestones ever measured: new-product sales rose 169%, ranking the market #2 worldwide in newness sales, with €1.5M of new products sold in the first week alone, when sales soared 149%. The campaign's brand-building ROI outperformed all of IKEA's brand-building communication for the entire year combined, and it swept effectiveness awards from YouTube Works Spain, El Ojo, D&AD, Cannes Lions and the Effies.

It turned a product showcase into entertainment the audience chose to watch rather than advertising to skip.

The '90s house without IKEA made every earned product visibly life-improving, teaching newness through story.

Contestants' influencer status amplified the series across social channels beyond YouTube's own audience.

It replaced the catalog's discovery function and outperformed all of IKEA's brand-building communication for the year on ROI.

Sales proof was concrete: +169% newness sales and €1.5M in the first week.

When a core channel dies, replace it with content people choose to watch: a product showcase disguised as a reality show made IKEA's newness entertaining — and measurably effective.

Trapped in the '90s became a multi-year awards run: Grand Prix, Greatest Sales Impact and Creative Works at the 2022 YouTube Works Awards Spain; seven Oros at El Ojo 2022; Graphite and Wood Pencils at D&AD and a Silver Cannes Lion; Best of Europe in Retail and Media & Strategy at the Effie Awards Europe 2023; and the Retail Global Grand Effie at the 2024 Effie Worldwide Best of the Best. In 2023 the campaign was cited as McCann's flagship work when Ingka Group awarded IKEA's global advertising account to McCann Spain.