IKEA is a Swedish furniture and home goods brand founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. In 1948, the company started selling furniture, which later became the core of the IKEA range. ^[2]

The brand is built around a simple idea: good home design should be affordable and useful for many people. This is also reflected in IKEA’s official vision: «to create a better everyday life for the many people.» ^[3]

IKEA positions itself as a brand of affordable, functional and democratic design. The company does not communicate furniture as luxury objects. Instead, it shows furniture as part of daily life. This is why IKEA’s communication often feels practical. The brand usually does not say «buy this because it is beautiful.» It says: this product can solve a real problem in your home.

The brand’s target audience is broad, but it especially speaks to people who want versatile design without luxury prices. IKEA’s audience is defined not only by age or income, but by a situation. For example, someone has a room, a limited budget and a practical need, and IKEA shows that this need can be solved through a clear and accessible system.

IKEA communicates with its audience through various mediums, such as their website, social media, video ads, outdoor posters, printed campaigns and the store experience. Its tone is usually simple, direct and playful. The brand does not build a distant luxury image. Instead, it speaks through everyday situations.

For example, IKEA’s website is not only an online shop, but also a recognizable communication channel where inspiration, prices, product information and practical home solutions are presented in one clear IKEA language. ^[1]

In the hidden-price campaign, the product looks like it belongs to a more expensive design brand. The campaign hides the price to challenge the idea that good materials and clean design must be expensive. ^[4]

A similar idea appears in the «It’s that affordable» campaign, where IKEA compares its products to everyday purchases like coffee or soda cans. ^[5]

In the pet campaign «Don’t Worry, You Can Afford It», broken home objects are shown through the chaos caused by pets, turning low price into a joke rather than a dry selling point. ^[6]

Another example is the «IKEA Brighton now open» campaign. Here, IKEA uses a very local joke: furniture is shown with bird droppings, referring to Brighton’s seaside environment and its seagulls. The campaign keeps the same IKEA tone, where it’s simple, funny and slightly unexpected, while still focusing on the product and its price. ^[7]

IKEA also often uses TV and video ads filmed like short funny sketches. Most of them are built around simple everyday situations, but sometimes the brand adds a provocative twist, turning an ordinary moment into a memorable message. ^[8]

The brand forms a positive attitude by showing that home improvement can be pleasant, affordable and not scary. Bright objects, cozy room displays, colorful textiles, tableware, lighting and food make the customer feel that change does not have to start with a large expensive project. It can begin with one cushion, one lamp, one storage box or one chair.

Subjective norm appears in the way IKEA makes certain behavior feel normal. In the store, everyone follows the same system where people walk through displays, test furniture, collect products themselves, carry trays, clean after themselves and use the space responsibly. Because this behavior is shared by many customers, it becomes part of the IKEA experience. The store quietly teaches the customer how to act inside the system.

Perceived behavioral control is the strongest part of IKEA’s communication. The brand constantly shows that the customer can manage the process independently. They can assemble furniture, combine modules, replace textiles, remove covers, use planners, transport flat-pack boxes and change separate parts over time. This makes home design feel flexible and achievable. IKEA does not sell the home as a finished luxury image. It presents it as something the customer can build, adapt and improve step by step.

Logos (lat. logic) in IKEA’s visual communication works through clarity and practical information. The brand shows that the product is easy to understand before the customer buys it: product pages include price, size, materials, delivery and availability; instructions explain the assembly process step by step; online planners and modular storage systems show how separate objects can be combined.

Pathos (lat. emotion) works through the emotional image of home. IKEA uses room displays, warm light, bright textiles, colorful tableware, children’s zones, food and cozy kitchens or bedrooms to create the feeling of «I also want to live like this.» Its room displays work almost like small dioramas. The customer steps into a ready-made domestic scene and can imagine their own routines inside it, from cooking and resting to organizing storage. This immersive setting makes the aesthetic more convincing, because the customer does not only look at the interior, but experiences it as a possible version of their own everyday life.

Ethos (lat. credibility) is built through trust and openness. IKEA allows customers to enter room displays, sit or lie down on furniture, open cabinets, touch materials and test objects, as if the store trusts them not to damage or steal the products. The same logic appears in the food area, where customers choose food themselves, carry trays and clean after themselves. This makes IKEA feel honest and reliable, because trust works in both directions, where the brand trusts the customer to behave responsibly, and the customer trusts IKEA because the whole system feels open, simple and respectful.

IKEA’s branding is effective because it turns home improvement into something clear, affordable and visually attractive. The brand does not communicate design as something distant or luxurious. Instead, it shows that an improved home environment can be created through small practical actions whether it’s choosing one object, replacing one textile, adding storage, assembling furniture or combining separate modules.

Through the Theory of Planned Behavior, IKEA makes the customer feel ready to act. It builds a positive attitude toward change, makes self-service behavior feel normal and gives the customer a strong sense of control.

With Visual Rhetoric, IKEA supports the same idea visually. Logos appears in clear information and instructions, pathos appears in cozy room displays and atmosphere, and ethos appears in trust, openness and the possibility to test and use the store freely.

The brand could show even more examples of how one room changes over time: how a cover can be replaced, how storage can be rebuilt, how one object can move between rooms, or how small updates can refresh the whole space. This would strengthen IKEA’s main message: good design is not a finished luxury image, but a living system that people can adapt to their own everyday life.