The Ikea advert challenges us to demonstrate the durability of its products.

The Ikea advert titled “Hidden Tags” encourages us to search for the label on our products to find the oldest piece of furniture.

One of the great virtues of advertising is turning potential drawbacks of your product into an advantage. Transforming weaknesses into strengths is not something everyone can do, especially brands, which tend to highlight the good aspects of their products and ignore the bad ones.

This is the case with the Ikea campaign launched in Portugal to debunk the myth that its furniture is not durable and is of poor quality. The brand has skillfully used this public perception to turn it around and make it the core of its campaign in Portugal.

“Hidden Tags,” Ikea’s original campaign in Portugal

“Hidden Tags” is the title of the Ikea advert in Portugal, created by the agency Uzina. The brand took on the widespread belief that its furniture is not built to last with a clever initiative.

Every piece of furniture Ikea makes comes with a label, and on that label, there is a number indicating its manufacturing date. The brand encouraged all Portuguese residents to look for that label on their products to find the oldest Ikea furniture in Portugal.

The mechanics were simple: consumers had to find the hidden label on their furniture—if they hadn’t removed it already. The person who found the oldest label would win thousands of euros in Ikea gift cards. The response was overwhelming: more than 4,500 labels were submitted, with an average age of 18.5 years. The oldest piece was a wooden table from 1969, making it 55 years old.

The Ikea advert not only served to prove the durability of its products but also strengthened consumers’ emotional connection with the brand. Its impact was so significant that, after the campaign’s launch, many furniture owners began selling their pieces on second-hand platforms, highlighting that they carried an Ikea label with the manufacturing date.

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