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St Luke's is launching a new campaign to announce the opening of an

Ikea store in Glasgow.

The campaign plays on the popularly held conception of Glaswegians as

"hard" people. It twists this by portraying their image as being

softened by the arrival of the Swedish furniture retailer.

The three television commercials feature authentic hard men of Glasgow

revealing their softer sides through their surprising insights into home

furnishings and interior design. In one, a tough man wonders if a

particular rug would warm up his sitting room. There is a tense pause

when a mean-looking individual looks on, only for him to break the

silence to offer some advice.

All the spots end with a disgusted Glaswegian voiceover declaring: "Och

no! Glasgow's gone soft!"

The press executions show the hard men featured in classic Glasgow

locations juxtaposed with the soft items they have bought from Ikea.

In the radio commercials the men are caught out looking at cushions and

futons in Ikea by their friends.

The "Glasgow's gone soft" strapline will also run on beermats featuring

poodles, chicks and kittens, and on washroom panels with a hard

Glaswegian sipping a cocktail. It will also run on mirror stickers

asking the men of Glasgow whether they have started using

moisturiser.

Vic Mirauer, an account director at St Luke's, said: "The campaign as a

whole works by challenging people to think about themselves, about the

city they live in, and has that all important tongue-in-cheek Ikea

approach. The media, especially TV, has long shown Glasgow as being a

hard, mean place, but over the last decade or more, the city has changed

dramatically. This campaign has fun with the preconceptions people have

about Glasgow."

The campaign was written by Matt Janes and art directed by Vic

Polkinghorne.

It was directed by Colin Gregg through Stark Films. Media planning and

buying is through MediaCom.