Ikea digital card game for International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day (8th March), Ikea is taking on inequality in the home with the launch of a free digital game, FiftyFifty on Instagram Stories. Developed in collaboration with relationship expert Jennie Miller, FiftyFifty takes couples, housemates, friends and co-workers on a journey to explore the roles and dynamics in our homes in a positive way.

Serious subjects in a fun way

The division of household chores can be challenging at the best of times, but the situation has been exacerbated further by the addition of home working and schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Less than one-third of surveyed parents agree that child care is split evenly, per Urban Sitter findings. Nearly 3 million women have dropped out of the U.S. labor force in the past year as they struggle to balance work life with demands at home, according to a report in CBS News.

The home goods retailer is positioning FiftyFifty as “a pause button to help us all, regardless of gender,” but a launch ahead of IWD reinforces that Ikea is spotlighting the undue burden put on women and how that imbalance has been amplified during the pandemic. Ikea aims to tackle serious subject matter in a fun way with the launch of FiftyFifty, a digital card game centered on resolving domestic work inequality. Questions posed by the Instagram Stories activation are simple, asking participants to do things like name their favorite and least favorite household chores and how many hours a week they spend on domestic duties.

Online activations

To launch the game and inspire as many people as possible to play, IKEA has partnered with Swedish singer, and activist for gender equality, Zara Larsson. In a promotional video, Larsson says the game should spark “open and relaxed conversation” about domestic work inequality. The artist will put on a livestreamed gig from her YouTube channel on IWD to support the message, performing on a set supplied by Ikea.

In the absence of in-person events, brands have had to retool their outreach strategies around cultural moments like IDW. Ikea is pushing FiftyFitfy on Instagram Stories in the hopes that it will engage homebound consumers who are spending more time scrolling through their phones. Mobile gaming has become a bigger part of Ikea’s playbook as it looks to keep people entertained. The brand recently launched an augmented reality (AR) game on Snapchat that challenges players to declutter a virtual room.