Early detection of breast cancer is the most efficient way to stop it from spreading and consequently it prevents death.

But in Saudi Arabia, breast cancer is still the 2nd leading cause of death.

That’s because Saudi women did not develop, yet, the good habit of doing check-ups, on a regular basis.

The only peak in check-ups happens during breast cancer awareness month. Because they are bombarded by messages. So, they remember to do their check-ups during that month only. But the rest of the year they forget.

It became clear that Saudi women needed a daily reminder.

It also became clear that the dedication to spreading awareness and education on early detection is what was needed to save their lives.

IKEA Saudi Arabia had the power to get into every Saudi home.

And stay there every day.

So, our furniture became the daily reminder every Saudi woman needed.

We turned the IKEA ‘Kransborre’ cushion into a self-care cushion and we gave it to every Saudi Woman. The cushion was designed to act as a daily, at home, reminder to do a self-examination.

The cushion still functioned as it should, but had a lifelike lump inside it – a reminder that breast cancer is detectable and we all need to just pay attention.

Since IKEA’s brand promise is of ‘creating a better everyday life for the many people', IKEA decided to take action and create a better everyday life for the many Saudi Women.

Our strategy was simple we needed to talk directly to each and every single Saudi woman, be there for her every day, and teach her how to do a self-examination. And this is how we designed our strategy:

1. We knew that finding a lump is a scary and unfamiliar feeling that any woman would have, this is why we made it easy and safe to find the lump in our cushion, guiding her through this unfamiliar process. Ultimately, familiarizing women with the self-checkup steps.

2. Women always avoid the self-checkup exam in fear of finding something and not knowing what to do. This is why we made sure, through our informative tag, they had all the numbers of clinics, in case they found something.

3. Finding a lump usually happens accidentally, and sometimes too late, this is why our cushion acted as a daily, early and discreet reminder.

We rebranded Our ‘Kransborre’ cushion. Because it was already round, soft and came in pink. And just like that, our cushion looked round and pink like a breast. And it acted as a daily reminder to get checked up.

Using a ready cushion made it possible to go from idea to execution in less than 2 weeks. Time is of the essence when it’s cancer.

We added to the cushion one very noticeable detail: A lump that they could touch and feel.

We then added to it a strong message: Don’t sleep on it.

The pillow’s tag was redesigned as an awareness tag. It had clear early detection instructions and it carried clinic phone numbers.

Riding on the awareness of breast cancer month, we gave it away to all shoppers during that time. We also set up a booth, with an oncologist present to educate and encourage.

With this project, IKEA managed to strike the balance between a pressing global health issue that needs to be addressed, while tackling it in a culturally sensitive way.

All our ‘Kransborre’ limited-edition cushions made their way into Saudi homes and they lived there all year-round.

And our campaign participated in attaining:

64,600 tests were conducted during the month of October 2021

233 Early detections / future survivors

A unique reach of 3.1 million

20.7 million earned impressions

We’re glad that we, at Ikea, didn’t sleep on it.