Smörgåsbloggers
All the way from Småland, the collected views, amusements and inspirations of a bunch of copywriters working at IKEA Communications. Here comes the small print: "The posts here are the authors own and are not necessarily the views of IKEA." Hopefully nothing else we put on here will be as boring as that.
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6 posts tagged swedish
What the hell’s an “ogooglebar”?
The Swedes sure are an inventive bunch. They gave us the safety match, the seat belt and the monkey wrench. All very impressive. But as a lover of language – I’m more impressed with their bevy of new words.
Every year Sweden publishes a list of new words. This year Ogooglebar made the list.
Google was not impressed and it’s now been removed. Spoilsports.
Not to fret. There are plenty of other gems. The Atlantic has their own list. But my personal fave? Brony. Because what’s not to love about male, My Little Pony Fans?
H&M say Long Live Fashion
I really like it when a global retail brand does something on a global scale.
‘Whaaat?’
You heard me. Most of the time, global brands roll out new initiatives and stock in waves, and operate much of their daily business on a local level. Sure, the stock will be pretty much the same all across the world (but seriously, one could write a socio-political-economic thesis on the reasons for the differences that do exist).
And yes, the logo, store fascia, shop fittings and other little touches all give the impression of a united experience. But rarely does a global retail brand launch something in every one its stores on the same day. It’s an organisational slam dunking hole-in-one to pull it off.
So I imagine there is much fist-pumping and high-fiving and chest-bumping going on at H&M’s Swedish headquarters (you’re imagining Swedes doing those things now aren’t you?) because the world’s second-largest clothing retailer yesterday launched a garment recycling programme in every one of its 48 markets.
It’s the latest initiative in H&M Conscious, the sub-brand name given to all sustainability activity undertaken by the company.
The idea is borrowed from Marks and Spencer in the UK, but it’s more democratic (hello, it’s Swedish) in that you can bring in a bag of any make clothes (M&S only rewards recycling of their clothes) to get a money-off voucher for your next spend.
A short film from Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors which makes me wonder if they’re about to open shop in London or if they’re just being ballsy, poking fun at the endless list of global advertising agency acronyms.
Will Ferrell laughs at the Swedish word infart for an Old Milwaukee ad. I’m still doing that eight months on (laughing at infart, not pushing ropey old beer).
Interesting portraiture of Swedish Millennials (born in the 1980s) with all their possessions taken by one of their own, Sannah Kvist. Unsurprisingly, IKEA bags score in 1/3 of the shots.
I admit it. I still don’t pronounce all Swedish words correctly. But I’m undoubtedly better than when I first set my South Louisiana feet on Swedish soil about 4 years ago.
Doing a work week at a store in the States made me realize just how much Swedishness was seeping into my vocabulary. My mother tongue was betraying me, confusing me, forcing my brain to question what the eff are these people talking about? And why are they saying Eye-key-ah when it’s E-kay-ah?
Turns out they were just saying product names the way I used to, in my pre-Swedish phase. But I couldn’t bring myself to correct anybody because that’s part of the hurdy gurdy fun of IKEA, right?
Two interaction design students in Copenhagen who aren’t Danish decided to help out tourists and residents alike by installing some helpful pronunciation phones in high-traffic streets called WTPh? or What the Phonics. And Danish, my friends, is far more confusing than Swedish.
Would a similar set up be desired in IKEA stores or on the web? Buzz feeder or buzz killer?
