Lamp

Lamp is a television and cinema advertisement released in September 2002 to promote the IKEA chain of furniture stores in the United States. The 60-second commercial was the first part of the "Unböring" campaign conceived by advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and follows a lamp abandoned by its owner. It was produced by the production company Morton/Jankel/Zander, and was directed by Spike Jonze. Post-production and editing was handled by Spot Welders and sound design by the California-based MIT Out Sound. The commercial aired concurrently with another IKEA piece in the same vein, titled Moo Cow. Lamp, and its associated campaign, was a popular, critical, and financial success. Sales of IKEA furniture increased by eight percent during the period in which the commercial ran, and Lamp received a number of awards, including a Grand Clio and the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, considered the most prestigious accolade granted by the advertising community . Synopsis Lamp opens with a shot of a red tabletop lamp by a sofa. A woman unplugs it and carries it outside over her shoulder, the camera angle receding from the lamp's former home. A sombre, minimalist piano piece plays in the background as the lamp is left by the side of the road on a dismal, windy day. Hours pass, and shots of the lamp sitting alone in the pouring rain are intercut with others taken from the lamp's perspective, showing through a window a view of its former owner on her sofa beside a new IKEA anglepoise lamp. As the camera pulls away from the abandoned lamp, a Swedish man (Jonas Fornander) walks into view and turns to the camera, stating: "Many of you feel bad for this lamp. That is because you crazy . It has no feelings, and the new one is much better." The piece ends with the IKEA logo above the campaign's tagline ("Unböring"), and a link to its website, Unböring.com. Production Lamp was the first televised commercial produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) for IKEA. The agency received the contract in early 2002, taking over from the Minneapolis-based advertising agency Carmichael Lynch, who had held the IKEA account since 2000, when the furniture chain ended its 11-year partnership with Deutsch Inc.