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Are you still turning the pages or are you already listening? This question raises a new version of the Ikea catalog – the 286 printed pages are read out in an almost four-hour audio book.
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Stuttgart – “Hello dear listeners, or ‘Hey’ as they say in Sweden”, greets an almost enthusiastic female voice in English. The good mood did not deteriorate in the following three hours and 41 minutes either. “I learned a lot of other words in Swedish, … okay mainly the names of Ikea furniture,” says Jasmin Richardson, the woman behind the voice. She will now read the 286 printed pages of the Ikea catalog page by page – and comment cheerfully and eloquently.
What Claudia Seibert, spokeswoman for Ikea Germany, calls a “completely new and unexpected listening experience” sounds something like this: “On this page you see a happy blond child sitting on a white child’s chair, $ 14.99. It holds up a children’s book, not to read, but as a hat. Uh, I love that look, honey, so avant-garde. ”
Unusual comeback of the Ikea catalog
In this way, the Ikea catalog is celebrating an unusual comeback – as an audio book. For decades, the advertising medium had landed millions of times in printed form in the mailboxes of German citizens and, with products such as the Billy bookshelf and the Poäng armchair, had influenced the furnishing style of entire generations. The catalog belonged to the Swedish furniture giant like the Köttbullar and the hot dog after the shopping pleasure. That is why there was deep disappointment among many consumers when the Swedes announced the end of the iconic furniture tome last year.
Customer behavior and media consumption have changed, and the Ikea catalog has been used less and less, the company justified its decision at the time. But whether what is coming now will smooth the waves of sad Ikea customers can at least be questioned. In 13 chapters of 15 minutes each, the “audio catalog for stylish design inspirations” is intended to provide furnishing tips and to offer assistance with to-do lists. The podcast is available on the US website from Ikea and platforms like AudioBooks, Spotify and YouTube.
Audiobook catalog as the format of the future?
So is the audio book catalog really the advertising format of the future? Not at all, the podcast is a one-time initiative by colleagues from the USA, says Ikea spokeswoman Seibert. “Although we at Ikea Germany generally consider podcasts to be a very interesting format for conveying tips and knowledge about furnishing and living at home, we currently have no plans to transfer the catalog into audio format.”
Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad compiled the furniture store’s first catalog himself in 1951, thus creating a classic. In the year with the highest circulation, 200 million copies were printed worldwide in 32 languages. In fact, Ikea was rather late with its decision to discontinue the catalog last year. Mail order giant Otto sent its Otto catalog with 656 pages full of fashion and technology, sporting goods and home textiles, toys and accessories to its customers for the last time at the end of 2018.
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