IKEA BookBook: How a Parody of an Apple Launch Made a Paper Catalogue Go Viral

“Once in a while, something comes along that changes everything,” says a calm, serious voice. “This is not that device.”

A man in a black shirt holds up the IKEA catalogue. He explains its features: no cables, no batteries, an eternal battery life. Pages are “preloaded” with content. Navigation is by “tactile touch technology,” meaning you turn the page with your finger.

This was the BookBook, a 2014 video by IKEA. It parodied the way Apple presented new products, and it made a printed catalogue go viral.

The Context

IKEA’s printed catalogue was one of the most widely distributed publications in the world. Each year, many millions of copies were printed in dozens of languages. It was a central part of IKEA’s marketing.

But by 2014, print seemed old-fashioned. Tablets and smartphones were the new way to browse. Apple’s product launches, with their minimalist style and dramatic language, were global events.

IKEA and its agency, BBH Asia Pacific in Singapore, wanted to promote the new catalogue in a way that felt fresh and fun.

The Campaign

The video was a precise parody of Apple’s launch videos. It featured an IKEA representative, Jörgen Eghammar, speaking in a slow, serious tone about the “BookBook.” The visuals mimicked Apple’s clean, white design and close-up product shots.

The script highlighted the catalogue’s “features” as if they were technological breakthroughs. The BookBook had “no lag” when turning pages. It did not need charging. It was “fully synced” with the IKEA product range. It was said to survive a fall with no damage.

The video ended with the line “Experience the power of a bookbook.”

IKEA released it on YouTube and social media in September 2014. It spread quickly, gaining millions of views within days.

The details were what made it work. The presenter held the catalogue with the same reverence as a new phone. The camera lingered on the spine, the edges and the pages in slow, glossy close-ups. When he described turning a page, the video showed it in the kind of slow motion normally reserved for a touchscreen swipe. He demonstrated “zooming in” by bringing the catalogue closer to his face.

The script also played with the idea of features that were not really features. The catalogue could be shared with friends by handing it to them. Bookmarks were created by folding the corner of a page. The product was said to be available in dozens of languages, which was true, and at no cost, which was also true. Each line was a joke about technology marketing and an accurate description of the catalogue at the same time.

The video was around two and a half minutes long, which is long for an online ad. But the pacing matched the slow, confident rhythm of a real product launch, and viewers stayed to the end to see how far the joke would go.

Why It Worked

The parody was precise. The video captured the tone, visuals and language of an Apple launch perfectly. Viewers recognised the reference immediately, which made the jokes land.

It was affectionate, not mean. The humour poked fun at technology hype without insulting anyone. It made viewers smile rather than wince.

It turned a weakness into a joke. Print was seen as outdated. IKEA embraced that and made the catalogue’s simplicity its selling point.

The product was real. The catalogue was genuinely useful and familiar to many people. The joke worked because it was about something people already owned.

It was perfectly timed. Apple launched new iPhones around the same time each year. The video arrived when Apple’s style was top of mind.

The Results

The BookBook video was viewed millions of times within days and many millions more in the following weeks. It was covered by news and technology media worldwide and won awards at international advertising festivals.

The campaign gave the catalogue new attention at a time when print was in decline. IKEA eventually ended the printed catalogue in 2020 after 70 years, but the BookBook video remains one of its most famous pieces of advertising.

The video also worked as a reminder of why the catalogue mattered. For many households, the IKEA catalogue was a familiar object that sat on a coffee table for months. People browsed it, circled items and showed it to family members. By treating it as a premium device, the video made that ordinary experience feel special.

Many brands tried to copy the formula in later years, releasing parodies of tech launches for everyday products. Few matched the BookBook, because few had a product that was so widely known and so perfectly suited to the joke. The lesson most marketers took from it was not to parody Apple, but to look at what their own product does well and describe it with total confidence, even when it is simple.

The Lesson for Today’s Marketers

Parody is powerful when it is precise. The BookBook worked because it copied Apple’s launch style so accurately.

Humour can make an old product feel new. IKEA did not pretend its catalogue was modern; it joked about that and gained attention because of it.

And borrowing a cultural moment can multiply reach. By referencing Apple, IKEA tapped into a conversation that was already happening.