Last Wednesday, a single photo of a plush orangutan went viral on IKEA’s social media. Punch the monkey has stolen the entire internet’s hearts with his sad story and cuddly orangutan toy.
@australiancommunitymedia ‘Punch’ and his plushie: baby monkey becomes internet celebrity. The Japanese macaque was born in July 2025, but was abandoned by his mother, and had to be hand-reared by staff at the Ichikawa City Zoo. To ease the little one's loneliness, the zoo staff gave Punch a small orangutan plushie. This video includes ACM-produced voiceover powered by AI. PunchMonkey macaque #viral #viralvideo #animalsoftiktok
♬ original sound - Australian Community Media - Australian Community Media
Behind that image was Elissa Wardrop, a member of IKEA’s specialised responsive marketing team, who turned a viral moment into a global brand win in under twenty minutes. From a 9-minute editing window to a heartwarming message about found family, Wardrop takes us behind the scenes of the viral Punch campaign and explains why social media success really "isn't that deep."
Sofia Aira: So, this campaign launched about a week ago. It was very spur-of-the-moment, wasn't it?
Elissa Wardrop: It was last Wednesday.
SA: I saw on your LinkedIn the video of the entire process happening in a 20-minute window. Can you go through the process from approval to being put out?
EW: Well, I think on Monday I realised it was starting to go viral, so I put it in our global social media group chat. I was like, "Hey guys, I'm seeing Baby Punch everywhere on my feed, I'll get onto it first thing tomorrow." I'm in a global team of responsive marketers. We jump on things like this - trends, pop culture, news, and we create content and send it out to all the markets.
