For a lot of New Yorkers, IKEA is a happy place. City excitement was high when IKEA opened in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Even better, the Water Taxi zips you from Lower Manhattan directly to the store. Then, the IKEA planning studio opened up this spring on the Upper East Side. Sometimes, we’ll admit, we go to IKEA just to eat those Scandinavian meatballs in the cafe and walkthrough those model rooms, imagining our future happy place.
So it’s only fitting that IKEA Denmark is hosting a global competition to find a “Happiness Hunter” who will win a trip to spend two weeks in Denmark to discover why the country is on the list of world’s happiest nations year after year. More than a trip, this experience is being positioned as “anthropological educational journey,” a pursuit of happiness where the winners will actually literally live like a Dane this September, moving into an average Danish home and receive an average Danish salary (you’ll also have to pay a Danish tax on that, like a real Dane!). You’ll be treated to home visits, guided tours and talks. You’ll have people over for dinner, people who represent the Danish way of living, so you can glean information that will help you assess whether it is “the way the Danes live that makes them one of the happiest nations in the world,” explains the press release. We’re excited to be partnering with IKEA Denmark to spread the word about this competition (details on how to enter below).
Photo courtesy IKEA Denmark
Lene Gaarde, Country Communication Manager at IKEA Denmark, says, “If happiness arises from an average Danish life and home, our happiness hunter should experience that too. It is an anthropological task but there’s no need to be a researcher to be the candidate we’re looking for. As long as you’re equipped with a large dose of curiosity and have the courage to get involved in the investigation and share it with the rest of the world, you might just be the right person for the job.”
During the stay, the happiness hunter will share the experience with the rest of the world through a blog on IKEAHomeView.com while being followed by a camera crew. The crew will produce a mini documentary about the two-week pursuit of happiness in Denmark.
Photo courtesy IKEA Denmark
Are you IKEA’s new Happiness Hunter? Here are some of the criteria they are looking for below. To apply, you just need to fill out some information about yourself and upload a 60 second video of yourself explaining why you are eager to investigate happiness!
* You are the curious kind, perhaps even born with a magnifying glass in your hand * You love to travel and meet new people and cultures * You have at least 18 years of experience as a human being * You love being on camera and in the spotlight * And you have always wanted to find the secret to happiness
What IKEA Denmark will offer: * Your own temporary home in Copenhagen, ready to be filled with happiness * Two weeks of getting up close and personal with the Danes in September, filled with home visits, guided tours, talks and dinners * Free ‘köttbullar’ at the IKEA restaurant * A token amount as a salary (ex. VAT) for your services* * As good hosts, we’ll cover your travel expenses
Interested candidates are encouraged to apply for becoming the lucky winner to pursue happiness at https://www.ikeahomeview.com/join-and-win/ no later than July 1, 2019. The winner will be announced in the beginning of August. Read the full competition Terms & Conditions here.
