Alisha Purdy

Senior Director, Content, The Story Lab

life at dentsu

I love bringing ideas to life through stories and media, which is one of the reasons why I love what I do and likely why I have been part of the Dentsu family for some time. Content and advertising have been my game for a while, and I’ve been creating content before “content” was a thing. Here’s my latest Story Lab adventure with IKEA, as the ride to creating Swede Space was a wild one.  Almost a year in the making… and I'm not going to lie, there was a period of time where I didn't think this was going to happen, but it’s here: Swede Space , a 6 scrap that 5 part YouTube series launched in middle of a global pandemic.

What started off as ‘normal’ initiative for a great client (fun fact: it’s one of the first clients I worked with when I started with Carat as a broadcast buyer years ago) got flipped on its head with the realities of COVID.  The go-to-market plan was supposed to be in market within 4 months…completely doable, but then the world shut down, the shoots were paused and then moved and moved again, WBS were revised multiple times as we held our breath for each Stage to open up, so we could shoot the YouTube series we had locked and ready to go.  To undervalue project management would be just plain crazy, it was so critical to stay the course and keep the momentum going with the client and the team, which of course came with bunch of late nights, thousands of e-mails, a flurry of meetings, finally a COVID shoot (that alone came with a storm of worries, “what ifs” and a COVID scare) - and a few more reschedules because that’s just life, but we did it.  The Story Lab and Carat successfully launched a YouTube series for IKEA.

The 5-episode series is a first for IKEA in Canada, hosted by IKEA in-house talent, their very own Head of Design, Kathy Davey. The series takes you behind the design, with three simple solutions for everyday common design dilemmas around the home. By pairing IKEA’s life at home insights with their Scandinavian roots and design, the series showcases easy, affordable and sustainable ways to refresh an area of the home, including the Kitchen, Bedroom, Entryway and more!  

Here is a first look at the premiere episode that focuses on a small-space entryway area. In this episode, Kathy takes you behind the scenes to the entryway area which for many can be a challenging and at times a forgotten area to organize. With three key solutions we show consumers how create a functional, affordable, and beautiful entryway.  

I might be biased but this a great example of how a Dentsu integrated agency [Carat, Story Lab, iProspect, Isobar and AMPLIFI] approach can bring something like this to life!  We hope you enjoy Swede Space!

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