Dubai, UAE, 16 February 2020:    Each year, IKEA strives to get closer to understanding what people need from their home through its global Life at Home survey. The report gives insights into the daily lives of customers and how they feel about the space they call home. This year, IKEA delved into privacy to explore its importance in providing a better everyday life at home, revealing that there is a privacy gap in the UAE. In its efforts to provide a better everyday life to the many people, IKEA is empowering residents to rule their personal space at home through its newly launched ‘Kings and Queens’ campaign.  The campaign focuses on the importance of personal space, inspiring people to recognise their right to it, motivating them to ask for it and enabling them to create a place where they can be themselves without being judged. 

 

One key insight from the repot revealed that people see privacy as a necessity yet feel that its inaccessible. Privacy is not only about how much space people have, but how much control they have over that space. More than half (53%) in the UAE agree that the size of home doesn't impact the privacy that they can achieve, meanwhile the remaining 47% feel they need to live in larger homes to achieve more privacy In the UAE survey, 93% of respondents seek privacy to enjoy freedom from judgment and 78% say feeling physically comfortable is important to achieving privacy at home. However, finding privacy today has become increasingly difficult as the roles people play have become more fragmented and complicated as most people play multiple roles in their life such as a wife, a mother, a colleague, a boss. Caregiving is stated as the number one barrier to privacy globally and 64% of UAE residents think that turning technology off is key to achieving privacy. 

 

Vinod Jayan, Managing Director, IKEA, UAE, Egypt and Oman, said: “Each year our Life at Home Report allows us to delve into what is important to our customers when it comes to their personal space. People should feel a strong sense of belonging at home as its where they can relax, reflect and recharge. The people we live with, and the relationships we have with them, are generally a bigger barrier to privacy at home than the amount of space people have. Through our ‘Kings and Queens’ campaign, we want to empower people to rule and take control of their space as this allows them to feel themselves at home.”  

 

Our cities and societies sometimes make people feel that they must act in a certain way. The ‘rules of society’ vary across different cultures, especially in the UAE where it’s a melting pot of cultures from across the world. People sometimes tend to feel restricted and that they are not feeling themselves in fear of being judged. This is also why privacy is so important as it allows people to escape the rules of society and makes them feel free to act and think however they want without the fear of being judged. Whether it’s a moment of silliness singing in the shower, playing make-believe with their children, or simply dancing to Latin beats while they are cooking. 

 

With all the insights and data that was bought forward on the importance of privacy and personal space, IKEA was inspired to enable people to make their own rules at home. The ‘Kings and Queens’ campaign with its theme ‘everybody needs a place where they rule’ was created to acknowledges people’s right to reign supreme as King or Queen of their own space. Whether that means claiming a corner of the sofa for themselves, snatching a few minutes to relax with a pet or taking time out to bake a cake. The campaign illustrates that no matter where people are or how small their space is, they can set their own rules at home and don’t need to seek personal space outside the comfort of their homes.