SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

The Importance of Home

Ikea’s latest advertising campaign features the tagline "Home is the most important place in the world…it’s a place where holidays are celebrated, where friends and family meet to celebrate life’s happiest moments."  They conducted a survey and found that:

     94 percent of us say home is the most important place in the world.   

The IKEA campaign goes on to say:

     IKEA believes that homes are not just made of bricks and mortar with four walls.  Home is an emotion - a feeling of security, safety, comfort, peace, about being yourself and being together with your loved ones. Home is the place where memories are made, relationships are built, where children and families grow together. IKEA believes that regardless of where you live or who you are, home is the most important place in the world.

This is a trend we’ve been seeing a lot of here at New Persuasion.  Over the past several years, and maybe because of 9/11, people are investing more money in their homes and spending more and  more time there. 

• In the U.S., about 2 million children are being homeschooled today, and that number is growing 7 to 15% each year.
• In 1992, 2 million Americans worked from home. Today, there are 24 million working from home.
• Ten years ago, four million women with young children were working outside the home. Today, that number is down to about three million.
• The average size of an American home has grown from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,349 square feet in 2006.
• 17.5% of Adults currently engage in what the Census Bureau calls “cooking for fun."
• Movie attendance is down as people instead watch more movies from home.

What we used to have to leave home to do we can now easily do in the comforts of our own homes. We like the security and predictability of our own homes.  We have designed them to our  likes and dislikes and want to enjoy them.  There is so much chaos in the world outside of our homes that we will do what we can to avoid that chaos by staying home.   Anything that can add to the luxury and comfort of home will surely be a success.