IKEA’s latest advert features Gnomes who sabotage a couple who are trying to improve their garden. The adverts, which launched last week, look at a family trying to transform their garden with IKEA outdoor furniture, but they have some opposition to the change, from the ultimate embodiment of everything that’s tired and dreary about British gardens – the garden gnome. The gnomes will do anything possible to keep the garden the way that they like it – kitsch and dull. Every improvement the family makes angers the gnomes, who do anything to stop the family.

The campaign uses the insight that although the UK are a house-proud nation who love their gardens, they simply aren’t making the most of them, whether big or small or come rain or shine. The campaign is intended to inspire people to give as much thought to how they furnish their outdoor space as they would any room inside of their house, showing off some of the most inspiring IKEA solutions along the way, whatever the weather.

While a hilarious and memorable commercial is great, it’s even better when your ads have a theme or character that can carry over into other aspects of your marketing campaign. For example, IKEA could take their campaign one step further by placing angry gnomes at the entrances of their stores. They could have broken gnomes in the garden section of the store and could even release a guide on ‘How to defeat your garden gnomes: get the most from your garden’. The opportunities are endless when you have a fantastic idea, and a great marketing team to help you make your dreams a reality.