When I ran across this earlier today I assumed that it was going to be some sort of hilarious disaster. A herd of cats running around a furniture store completely unchecked? Bring on the mayhem! Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be as beautiful and heartwarming as the final commercial is. There is a behind the scenes video after the jump where they talk a bit about "the plan" which was really "hey why don't we just try this and see what happens?" Yet with no real plan to speak of (at least none they convey in the BTS video) the audience is left with a feeling of peace. Peace that not only will they love a home furnished with IKEA products, but so will the furriest members of the family. To me that's the really amazing part of this ad. You have 100 untrained cats running around and the film crew managed to capture amazing moments and bring them all together like this.
Here's a peek behind the scenes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCB7RqGS684
Via Gizmodo
87 Comments
Great idea and well done.
Bonus points for cute kitties :]
www.stephenjcameron.com
How long did it take to corral them all after the shot ?
IKEA should have called the cat herders from EDS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
Probably not very long. Cats are usually easy to catch, its just impossible to put them into cat size carriers because they magically expand to 1000x their normal size.
If they were using boxes, not long at all.
And they magically add extra legs
...and claws.
Use one of Ikea's can openers, the electric type, and a few cans of tuna will get many, if not all, to come at same time and place. lol
I spent an entire evening shooting the empty IKEA store in Ottawa Canada just before the big opening...It was amazing to see the pristine store empty and perfectly quiet...Love this ad. http://www.couvrette-photography.on.ca
Btw...to answer a couple of queries...I did not shoot the video for this ad. There are, however some shots on my commercial site showing the opening under the event section...cheers.
I've always thought it would be hilarious to release a ton of goats into a WalMart store.
You didn't go to Black Friday at Walmart? :P oh wait.. that was sheep
LMHO!!!!!!!
LOL
And here I thought they were lemmings . . .
Black friday shoppers remind me more of bulls. ...Or zombies.
zombulls
LOVED YOUR HONEST INSIGHT I OFTEN ACCUSE THE GENERAL POPULATION OF BEING SHEEP
I was threatening to do the same with pigs two weeks ago.
Isn't this something they did a few years back?
check the dates on the videos
This is a few years old now. They shot this advert on a RED One MX, two pimped 7Ds and one 35mm camera and one thermal imaging camera. The D.O.P on this shoot was a friend of mine called Rich Stewart. Very cool concept, thanks for sharing I haven't seen this in a while :)
thermal imaging? o.O
Maybe so that they could find the cats under the furniture after the shoot?
...and then the ad agency uploaded it in 480p. Hilarious. I would fire them.
Your friend rocked it. Love this
excuse me - why is there cat pee on my new couch i just bought?
What they don't show, is all the cat pee, torn curtains, hair on the furniture and disgusting hairballs on the sofa's. Somebody mentioned goats up here, would have been way more entertaining. Cats, grrr, gives me chills down my spine, and my sinus canals.
Didn't you watch the "making of" video? They cleaned the store afterwards.
No matter. You dont bring home the furniture from the top floor anyhow. You go down and get it from the warehouse.
you give me chills down my spine. Lighten up.
Who is more disgusting? People who hate cats or cats who loves the people? My guess is people like you. No one forces you to buy anything from IKEA right?
Let me guess, you have a fish.
Reynardt, oh You give me chills down my spine.
SO many hateful people, just mention the word cat and people get very nasty.
BTW.....I am highly Allergic to dogs....and I don't post on every video how
much I HATE DOGS !!
I am rather tired of the millions of cat haters on the Internet.
yes they do like the millions of dirt bags that kill black cats on hallow ween around the world :(
Well, there are plenty of people who would rather put up with cat hair than someone who hates cats. Just sayin!
if you look at the last frame, you can actually see all the cat hair on the fabric. yeck
I am wondering where they got all the cats and what happened to them afterwards?
Cute commervcial forsure, but I am thinking about cats running scared trying to be captured the next morning. Or frightened that they were all shipped there.
Would be more moving if Ikea used a 100 cats from shelters and used the commercial to have them all adopted.
Well, if you watched the behind the scenes video you'd know.
Haven't you ever eaten at the Ikea Restaurant? Those meatballs... yum.
this was my first thought-- cats are so insanely attached to territory, this must have been traumatic regardless of noble intentions and where they ended up
It's true that they are "homebodies" but I know at least two of mine would have enjoyed the adventure of exploring a new place. Cats are very curious and don't get traumatized too easily - unless you try to bathe them ;)
....and then the ad agency uploaded it in 480p. Hilarious. I would fire them
So what, they were frightened for a few hours in cat carriers. They weren't physically harmed.
It looks like they were pets of staff members, so they probably went home and were fine and forgot about it.
As alergic to cats I certainly wouldn't like to go there just 30 mins after 100 cats :S
Watch the making of.
way to repost something thats months old as if its new...
I hadn't seen it yet, so it was new to me! And I'm glad I got to enjoy it!
Ditto