A bridge too far for IKEA?

Our homes influence our happiness, is the message of a new IKEA campaign that uses a modern-day fable to explore the link between where we live and our well-being.

Created by Rethink Toronto and directed by Nick Ball through OPC, The Troll is a two-minute film about a lonely troll and the boy who helps to brighten his life. Part of the next iteration of IKEA's Bring Home to Life platform, which launched in 2022, the spot focuses on unlocking our emotional connections to home and the life we live there.

The spot was shot in Slovenia, both on location at a bridge and in a studio, we meet a grumbling troll who works as a toll booth collector and lives under a dark, damp bridge. When a young boy takes an interest in the troll and offers an IKEA lamp to brighten up his living space, things begin to change. In the end, it’s more than the troll’s physical surroundings that have improved, as we see him go from a sad, lonely troll to a happy one, which also means that the long-tormented villagers above are finally free to cross the bridge above.

“We wanted to use the character of the troll to show the ways that our homes reflect our energy and, in turn, perpetuate how we feel," said Robbie Percy, Partner and Creative Director at Rethink. "With our busy lives, I think a lot of people can relate to getting home at the end of the day and feeling a bit troll-like. But when you come home to a place that feels right, you notice the difference. It helps you feel a lot better, too.”