IKEA Channels Apple in a Hilarious Ad for Its New Catalog ‘Bookbook’ | Hacker News Reader

IKEA Channels Apple in a Hilarious Ad for Its New Catalog ‘Bookbook’

time.com

45 pointsklintcho27 comments

I kind of like it, but it's too long. I would cut out the sharing, passwords, maybe something else. It's not as interesting so people would spend over two minutes watching it.

But you watched the full video, didn't you?

I was actually writing that comment while it was still running in the background :)

Despite being an amazing parody, the irony is that the bookbook is made out of paper — if it was actually digital instead, that'd be a whole lot of trees not getting destroyed...

> that'd be a whole lot of trees not getting destroyed...

Is there evidence that ebooks are better for the environment? The cost of manufacturing and delivering the reader, which may be replaced quite frequently, and the costs of cloud-based delivery make it non-obvious to me.

Maybe ebooks save paper, but have a higher carbon cost?

Paper can be made from renewable hemp instead of forests, http://www.mastersoflinen.com/eng/histoire

"Perfected by Tsai Lung for the Chinese emperor between 62 and 117 A.D., the technique of making paper with hemp was discovered in the Western world after the Battle of Samarkand (751 A.D). In 1456 Gutenberg printed a Bible on hemp paper, the United States’ Declaration of Independence was also written on hemp paper in 1776."

I agree. Paper should be made from something like hemp, which can be replanted and harvested again later. Enough of this tree paper. http://www.cof.orst.edu/cof/newfmc/product_examples/forestle...

> Paper can be made from renewable hemp instead of forests

Hemp may have a greater sustainable yield per acre (or some other constraint) than other fiber sources for paper [1], but forests are quite obviously also renewable.

[1] I'm not saying it does, just granting that this is possible as I haven't looked into it.

Yes, this brochure from the wood-paper lobby notes that a tree takes 10-20 years to grow and that trees are grown specifically to make paper, http://www.tappi.org/Bookstore/Public-Outreach/Earth-Answers...

Hemp yields more pulp per acre than forests, needs less acid & chlorine (environmental impact).

Trees are a renewable resource.

Saying that books destroy trees is like saying that hamburgers destroy cows.

We farm them specifically for the purpose of using them. If there were no books, we'd have less trees, not more.

Well hamburgers do destroy cows. It's just that they're a renewable resource vs a finite one.

How are cows any more or less renewable than trees?

They are not. It's just that it IS accurate to say paper destroys trees and hamburgers destroys cows.

Not eating hamburgers (plus not consuming the other parts of cows, namely leather) would destroy cows as well.

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that's actually reforesting -- we plant about 1000 more acres of trees each year than we cut down: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/United_St...

"Another special feature is voice activated password protection - excuse me, that is mine".

Something fishy about that one, pretty sure this feature was built into everything since forever.

You mean I've been hitting people with rocks all these years for nothing?!

Of course not, I am sure it served an ... educational purpose.

Marketing people are always claiming something is new and revolutionary.

I'm surprised that someone like IKEA has gone for this. These sort of mock ads usually come across as quite petty, especially for big organisations.

It seems more appropriate for something like the Somersby Cider commercial (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3rNQ2pTyAY) where the product is already light-hearted to some extent.

> These sort of mock ads usually come across as quite petty, especially for big organisations.

I think the trick here is that Ikea isn't competing with Apple, so it doesn't come across as trying to make fun of Apple's style, it's just having fun with Apple's style.

Well said. I didn't get a malicious feeling from Ikea. More playful than anything.

Yeah I think the headlines are trying to bait us. I felt like Ikea was poking fun at the digital vs physical world. The ad style was definitely lifted from Apple but the "specs" approach could be any new device "No lag! Each page loads instantaneously via tactile touch" or whatever. Quite good.

We are discussing it on HN, I saw it on Reddit and someone told me a friend shared it with them on Facebook.

I say this ad worked.

I don't know if this is as much a mock ad against a particular company(those are the ones that typically come off petty) and more about trying to relay to the consumer there is more to life than a touchscreen device.

This ties into IKEAs brand perfectly. The more you care about the "Real World" the more likely you are to spend time(and money) decorating and enhancing your surroundings, like your home.

It's not so much a mock ad as much as it's reinforcing the value proposition of what IKEA brings to the consumer. The ability to enhance the real world. It does so via proxy by reinforcing the value proposition of the real world in general.

Fantastic marketing.

Ikea has a history of irreverent advertising. This ad was pretty well-received:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqhIVyfsRg

http://www.twelvesouth.com/product/bookbook-for-macbook-air-...

Cue infringement suit in 5, 4, 3...

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