IKEA - The troll - (2023) 2:00 (Canada)

This is all very Scandinavian (or Nordic) in its roots as we watch a child arriving at a forested area where a real-life Troll takes a toll. 

Instead of walking with his schoolmates on the highway he decides to cross through the fields and the forest to find the troll, and he discovers the bridge that the troll lives under. 

Now that he sees the troll has issues keeping even a match alight, he decides to redecorate the troll's lair. 

Now, no one needs to wait for the troll to open the gate to cross the bridge any longer. Joy?

I don't know where you, dear reader, are from. But to me, this was a really sad story, because the troll is no longer needed, wanted, or even working. Kinda depressing. His job used to be to open that gate. But then, probably unlike Canadians, I grew up on Troll fairy tales and found this a bit sad. 

“We know through our annual Life at Home research that there’s a direct relationship between how our homes feel and how we feel,” said Johanna Andren, head of marketing at IKEA Canada. “With this campaign, we wanted to demonstrate how IKEA can influence that relationship between our home and wellbeing.”

“The story of the troll, while fantastical, is also grounded in a human truth that we can all relate to. Through the relationship between the caring boy and the grumpy troll, we see that with a little meaningful attention, we can transform our space, and our lives.”

Client: IKEA, Canada

Agency: Rethink Canada
Production: OPC

Director:
Nick Ball
Chief Creative Officers: Aaron Starkman and Mike Dubrick

Creative Director/ art director : Caroline Friesen
Creative Director/ writer : Robbie Percy
Producer: Chantel Brinkman
Producer: Jessica Luong
Producer:Terri Winter
Producer: Harland Weiss
Producer: Max Brook
DoP : Daniel Voldheim

Head of Marketing Johanna Andrén
Marketing Claudia Mayne
Marketing Jacqueline Wark
Marketing Nadia Kassam

Designer Lindsay Marsh
Media Manager Marissa Fischer
PR Lisa Huie

Chief Strategy Officer Sean McDonald
Strategy Director Jay Fleming
Account Director Kiara Wilson
Account Director Megan Christopher
Account Manager Erica Francis

Media Carat Canada
Vice President Karen Hrstic
Account Director Tracey Cronin
Media Supervisor Christine Ma

Production Designer Marco Puig
Designer Donna Irvine

Production Photoby
Photographer Ernest Winczyk
Executive Producer Krzysztof Wiecek
Production Service Division Productions
Post Production / VFX Nimiopere
Editor Graham Chisholm
Executive Producer Julie Axell

Post Production / VFX House of Parliament
VFX Artist Lexi Stearn
VFX Artist Emma Hertz
VFX Supervisor Peter Smith

Post Production / VFX Color Collective
Colourist Alex Bickel
Executive Producer Claudia Guevara
Music / Sound Vapor Music
Sound Director Ted Rosnick
Producer Kat Stewart