Hoard, sweet hoard: What IKEA’s Skyrim shelf can teach brands about fandom
When brands try to play in the world of fandom they can often get it wrong, but not IKEA, says Cat Botibol, Managing Director at Studio Secret Cinema, who thinks the furniture brand's foray into Skyrim is a perfect example of playfulness and intelligence.
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Anyone who has played the video game Skyrim will know the moment when you have just cleared a dungeon, found a chest and picked up every sword, potion and suspicious-looking ingredient in sight. Then you try to leave and discover you are carrying too much to run. Uh-oh!
IKEA has leaned into that joke by turning one of its real KALLAX shelving units into a Matt Berry-voiced companion.
It’s one of the game’s most familiar frustrations. Players have joked about it, explored workarounds, and yet continued to pick up far more loot than they need.
Now, IKEA has leaned into that joke by turning one of its real KALLAX shelving units into a Matt Berry-voiced companion, Kallax Storageborn who will haul it all way. What’s funny is how far IKEA has gone with it.
Above: IKEA turned one of its shelving units, the KALLAX, into a Matt Berry-voiced companion in Skyrim. creating a genuinely helpful addition to the game, as well as playing in fan lore.
There is a full quest, IKEA-themed dungeons and a Clutter Golem boss. Matt Berry’s voice gives the whole thing the right dry, grandiose tone, while the quest, dungeons and boss fight allow the joke to keep unfolding rather than ending as a one-line branded cameo.
It’s the brand equivalent of Steve Buscemi trying to pass as a teenager in 30 Rock, asking, “How do you do, fellow kids?”.
Marketers can learn a lot from the playful but intelligent way IKEA has understood how gamers actually live with the games they love.
Stop advertising at fandoms and get with the lore
The quickest way to put gaming fans off is to break the spell. Have you ever been completely caught up in a game, only for a real-world brand to pop up and pull you straight back out? You can almost hear the marketing meeting behind it. It’s the brand equivalent of Steve Buscemi trying to pass as a teenager in 30 Rock, asking, “How do you do, fellow kids?”.
IKEA’s KALLAX mod worked because it picks up on an in-joke that players already know. Carry weight is a much-loved Skyrim complaint, and Lydia’s “I am sworn to carry your burdens”, is one of the game’s best-known lines. Players already have plenty of ways to manage it, from player homes and console commands to countless community mods. Kallax Storageborn became IKEA’s contribution to a joke players have been sharing for years.
Above: McDonald's embraced the anime and manga tradition of using WcDonald's in a clever and genuine real-world way.
It also matters that the mod was built by Kinggath Creations, a Bethesda Verified Creator and the team behind Fallout 4’s Sim Settlements. IKEA has brought in a team the Bethesda community already knows. That gives the idea credibility with players who know their work, and means the joke has been built with the care fans expect from a proper creation. IKEA has earned its role and early signs are that players have taken it in good humour.
Instead of trying to create a new inside joke, McDonald’s embraced the meme and brought it into the real world through themed packaging, anime shorts and an immersive diner.
McDonald’s also got its interaction with fantasy worlds right too with WcDonald’s. For decades, anime and manga series used 'WcDonald's' with an upside-down 'W' logo. Anime fans had spent years seeing the fictional McDonald’s look-alike pop up in the films and shows they loved.
Instead of trying to create a new inside joke, McDonald’s embraced the meme and brought it into the real world through themed packaging, anime shorts and an immersive diner. Both campaigns begin with something fans already know. IKEA picks up on a shared annoyance. McDonald’s picks up on a shared joke. Then they give people more of it. That is a far more interesting place to start than asking, “Where can we put the logo?”. But getting the joke is only the first step, the next challenge is giving fans something to do with it.
Above: IKEA's collaboration with Xbox was "not just a gaming furniture with a logo on it".
A shelf is not a billboard
Getting the reference can earn a moment of recognition, but it does not, on its own, earn anyone’s time. Fans need a reason to stay once the initial “oh, they get it”, has worn off. The KALLAX is not a one-scene cameo made for social clips, it became part of the game, and gave players something extra to explore and use. The campaign didn’t ask them to stop playing Skyrim to admire IKEA’s involvement, but rather, it gave them another small piece of Skyrim to play with.
Fandom lives in the gaps around the main passion too, whether it’s the rooms people play in, the things they collect or the routines they build around their sessions.
The same thinking went beyond the screen with IKEA's Xbox range. It’s not just a gaming furniture with a logo on it, the designs are made with real consideration of the people using them and the spaces they live in. Fandom lives in the gaps around the main passion too, whether it’s the rooms people play in, the things they collect or the routines they build around their sessions. That is where brands can find a role that feels genuinely useful.
Above: World-building is so important in fandom; brands mustn't interrupt that.
This kind of focus lets fans stay immersed in a world they already care about, without the brand interrupting the experience with an obvious ad. World-building matters so much in fandom, and this approach gives people more of the worlds they choose to spend time in.
IKEA did not have to water down the things that make it uniquely IKEA to take part in gaming culture. It’s mix of convenience, design and wit runs from the world of Skyrim to the spaces people play in at home.
Before a brand enters a fandom, it’s worth asking a blunt question: if this disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss it?
For other brands, it starts with considering how their own values could translate into the world fans care about. The route in could then be a useful feature, a physical space or something fans can take into their own lives. Whatever form it takes, it needs to give them something to come back to after the launch announcement.
Would anyone miss it?
Before a brand enters a fandom, it’s worth asking a blunt question: if this disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss it? A fleeting joke may get attention, but the work that lasts gives people something they will carry on using, discussing or returning to.
That is when a campaign becomes part of the world, rather than just passing through it.
