Reversing IKEA Alsulaiman's Brand Assets: From Hot Dogs to Furniture

Reversing everything in IKEA from its iconic assets to furniture and food is a creative campaign idea that sounds like a political and logistical challenge, but not according to the Droga5 London creative leaders.

To launch IKEA Alsulaiman’s new Buyback Service in Saudi Arabia (where customers sell their used IKEA furniture and IKEA buys it back), the team reversed everything, from furniture, headlines, and the iconic IKEA logo, to films, music and even the famous hot dog. 

Rami Rihani, chief marketing and communications officer at Alsulaiman Group discuss the development of the campaign alongside Droga5 London’s CCO Tara Ford, and executive creative director Juliana Paracencio.

Creative Salon: What was your first reaction to the idea of reversing everything?

Rami: The first reaction was that the idea was bold, unexpected and immediately felt right for the launch. We couldn’t imagine another interpretation that would deliver the same level of impact.

We deliberately leaned into the element of surprise, using the reverse creative treatment to make people stop, look twice and rethink what they were seeing. At the same time, the idea stayed true to IKEA, simple, playful and always willing to challenge expectations.

What do you hope this campaign and the buyback service says about IKEA Alsulaiman to consumers?

Rami: Buyback helps customers making space for something new possible in their homes, while giving IKEA products another chapter. Putting value back in our customers’ hands and keeping quality products in use for longer. It’s a simple idea, but an important step forward in IKEA Alsulaiman’s circularity journey.

Where did the idea come from?

Tara: It’s actually pretty simple. If you think about buying from IKEA, this service is literally the reverse of that. When we first saw it, we thought, this is so simple and obvious, but once we started playing with the execution it became fun, eye‑catching and a great way to introduce a new service. It also felt right for the brand; the products are front and centre, and we weren’t shying away from that.

Juliana: Simplicity is part of IKEA’s DNA. Their best campaigns are simple and smart, so we kept that in mind. It’s the IKEA way of doing things.

What was the brief?

Juliana: We were launching this new service in Saudi Arabia and needed to communicate it in a way that stood out — something that made people realise IKEA was doing something different in a world full of content and billboards.

Tara: The brief was about the buyback service, not about reversing anything. The creative leap was realising that buying something back is essentially buying in reverse.

How open was the client to the idea?

Juliana: They loved it. There was a moment of “What is this?” but then it clicked. It was easy to sell, no struggle at all.

Tara: Once you reverse one thing, you start reversing everything; type, sound, visuals. It became a fun challenge: what else can we reverse? And that’s how we got to the hot dog.

Why start with the hot dog?

Juliana: When the idea came up, we tried reversing everything at IKEA. The hot dog felt like the perfect PR stunt because it’s iconic. Everyone stops for the hot dog. And of course, reversed, it becomes the dog hot, which made us laugh. We even went to IKEA and reversed the sausage and bread ourselves to see if it worked. It did, and it tastes the same.

Tara: People thought it tasted great.

Why not a meatball?

Juliana: We considered it, but a meatball doesn’t have two elements to play with. Inside‑out meatballs wouldn’t be visually appealing. We explored it, but the hot dog was the clear winner.

What does this say about IKEA as a brand?

Juliana: In Saudi Arabia, Gen Z and millennials are the biggest demographic, and many don’t think IKEA is cool - maybe because their parents used it. We needed something striking to get their attention. Gen Z already plays with reversed sentences on TikTok, so this felt like a natural way to resonate with them.

People love when established brands play with themselves. Why is that?

Tara: It shows confidence. People don’t warm to big corporations that take themselves too seriously. IKEA is serious when it needs to be, but being playful makes people get behind them. Not every brand behaves that way.

What does this say about your own work?

Tara: We try to be bold, disruptive and surprising in everything we do. That takes different shapes depending on the brand, audience and problem, and you can expect more of that.

Is a simple idea harder to execute?

Juliana: With simple ideas, you always ask: Is this too simple, or is this genius simple? Award‑winning work is often the kind of simple that makes you think, I can’t believe I never thought of that. You question yourself, you show it to others, you go through that journey. But the execution here was as simple as the idea. We looked at IKEA’s visual identity and reversed it. That’s the beauty of it: it says everything visually. IKEA is a very visual brand.

Tara: It wasn’t hard because the idea had clear rules: does it look like what IKEA normally does, but reversed? We kept coming back to that. With simple ideas, you do wonder if it’s obvious, but sometimes it just feels right.

You’ve made the sustainability message more entertaining than worthy. Was that deliberate?

Juliana: Mostly because of the audience we needed to win back. There are so many serious campaigns — the world feels heavy. We wanted to make people smile, especially younger audiences. And concepts like reusing and recycling are already understood; you don’t need to explain them.

Tara: Exactly. Second‑hand culture is booming for many reasons, and the environmental impact is inherent. You don’t need to spell it out.

Does the buyback offer change IKEA’s relationship with consumers?

Juliana: That’s the long‑term goal. Buyback is just the start. They’re planning more. They already have many environmentally friendly products, even if they’re not talking about all of them yet. I believe they’ll do more and more. Buyback is one way of showing how much they care about sustainability.