IKEA stars in guerilla-style soap opera

September 28 2009, 10:34am

IKEA is starring in its very own soap opera, however they have absolutely no hand in its concept, production or promotion. Conceived by a trio of Californians IKEA Heights was originally an entry for Channel101.com’s monthly video competition that debuted with such success its creators adapted it into a four episode series. The drama is filmed entirely inside an IKEA store in the city of Burbank with actors using the store and its products as a film set. Created by David Seger, Paul Bartunek and Tom Kauffman the soap opera, IKEA Heights has never been approved by the Swedish home furnishing store. While the company is probably delighted at the free exposure and officially calls the videos fun and complimentary its guerrilla-style video is getting a lot of attention even without the brand backing it. IKEA Heights has over 13,000 YouTube views just on the first episode alone, with the entire series viewed roughly 19,000 times. “The store doesn’t know we’re there,” Seger told the Los Angeles Times. “We’ve had employees ask what we’re doing and we say were doing a photo series. They say, ‘OK, just make sure it doesn’t mention IKEA.’ We lie and say OK.” The plots to the series include a murder mystery, a long lost brother with amnesia, a cheating wife and buried treasure. Seger, who has worked Web jobs in the past says that branded viral video can often be a hard sell on consumers. “You can’t do it because so many elements of luck and charm go into making something that doesn’t feel like you’re selling something.”