What made IKEA and Punch the monkey the perfect viral moment?

A baby macaque in Japan clinging to an IKEA plush was never meant to be a marketing moment. Yet within days of the clips going viral, the retailer saw a spike in sales of its Djungelskog orangutan across multiple markets, with some locations selling out.

There was no campaign behind it. No influencer contract. No paid push. Just a story that struck an emotional chord.

Punch’s rise offers more than a feel-good internet moment. It raises a bigger question for brands: What happens when culture assigns meaning to your product, and can that kind of emotional equity be built, or does it simply choose you?

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If Punch’s story proves anything, it’s that not every viral moment needs a marketing plan. Industry players that MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke to agree the smartest move when a product goes viral organically, is restraint. As Andy Reynolds, founder and creative director of branding agency Imagination Riot, puts it, leaning too hard into Punch’s story could make IKEA look as though it is "milking money from emotion”.

The true power lies in the fact that it was never engineered. And the emotional weight of the moment is what gives it value.

Framing the moment as “orchestrated serendipity”, Ambrish Chaudhry, head of strategy, Asia, MSQ & Elmwood, said, “Most cultural moments are orchestrated, but every once in a while, something is truly serendipitous, Punch has been that for IKEA." 

Chaudhry added that IKEA’s amplification has been measured, focusing on belonging with the line "family being who we meet along the way", alignes with the brand’s proposition as a furniture store for people starting out in life.

That does not mean brands should stay silent. Several argue that amplification is appropriate, but calibrated. When sentiment is overwhelmingly positive and aligned with brand values, a light touch can strengthen salience.

The role of the brand, as Tengku Wazir Aziz, CEO of experiential marketing agency Novarch, said, is to accelerate momentum, not eclipse it. He points to Stanley’s widely shared 2023 moment, when a woman’s car caught fire and her Stanley tumbler was found intact in the wreckage. Rather than turning the incident into a hard sell, the brand responded with empathy, gifting her a new car and fresh products.

"They leaned in without exploiting the incident. The goodwill generated far outweighed any paid campaign," he added. 

Yen Sim, chief brand director of branding agency The Conscious Clan adds that this aligns with a broader shift in consumer expectations. The comfort economy is real, she says, but it now sits alongside a rising expectation of conscience. Audiences want emotional reassurance, but they also want to feel confident that what they buy supports something meaningful.

The consensus:

Make the product available, acknowledge the moment with humility, but resist the urge to force a campaign where culture has already done the work.

From plush to signal 

Beyond the tactical question of response lies a more fundamental one: Why did the product sell? Comfort, belonging and reassurance may not appear on quarterly dashboards, but they have always driven behaviour. Reynolds notes that people rarely buy products in isolation; they buy identity, nostalgia and emotional safety. What Punch triggered was not demand for stuffing and fabric, but rather symbolism. In uncertain and digitally saturated times, consumers gravitate toward familiarity and softness.

Lara Hussein, CEO of M+C Saatchi Malaysia, said that in aworld that feels increasingly complex and noisy, people are yearning for simplicity, sincerity and something they can emotionally relate to.

This story proves, once again, that emotion is one of the most powerful forces in branding.

She added that from a marketing perspective, this is PR instinct at its best. “IKEA did exactly what great brands do they responded quickly, simply and with sincerity. They didn’t over-brand it and over think or over strategise anything They acted in such a humanly caring way,” she said.

Robin Nayak, head of strategy at McCann Singapore, agrees that emotional drivers often outperform rational triggers, but with a caveat. Not all emotions are equal. The emotion being leveraged must reinforce the belief system the brand is building.

"Right now, the world seems to be in a dark period, of wars, vitriol and economic pain. So, a moment of hope, levity or positivity can cut through and strike a meaningful chord with shoppers," he added. 

Behavioural science also offers a complementary lens. According to Chan Leong Teng, CEO of digital marketing agency Skribble said that in times of fatigue or instability, consumers naturally seek small, affordable comforts.

"When culture adopts a product, it stops being a SKU and becomes a signal. When Punch is forced to find a friend because his family and others don’t accept him, his plush is there to make him feel safe. You’re going to 'melt' just thinking about it," he added. 

Designed for adoption, not virality

If virality cannot be scripted, can it be prepared for? Some cultural moments simply happen, they cannot be planned, but they can be planned for, Nayak said. That means maintaining an always-on view of culture, filtering emerging conversations through the lens of a brand’s core beliefs.

When alignment appears, brands must move intentionally and at pace. React too slowly and the opportunity evaporates. React without alignment and the risk of backlash grows.

Others say that readiness comes from brand consistency and emotional equity compounds over time. "IKEA already stands for warmth, home and democratic comfort - so when Punch adopted the plush, it was basically a metaphor for any one of us falling in love with an IKEA product," said Reynolds. 

Teng describes this as engineering conditions, not outcomes. Simple, recognisable and emotionally neutral products are easier for audiences to project meaning onto. Wazir calls it emotional design, building products and brand worlds that invite storytelling, even if the specific story is unpredictable.

"When a message truly aligns with that sentiment, it compounds. It circulates, gains affirmation, and accelerates. That snowball effect is what turns resonance into virality," he noted. 

The responsibility of attention

Yet viral warmth often arrives with complexity. Punch’s story sparked conversations about animal welfare, digital discourse and even commercial opportunism. In such moments, brands are not merely retailers, they are perceived as values-led actors.

The Conscious Clan's Sim cautions that when wildlife is involved, the brand should not cast itself as the hero. The attention should be connected to something meaningful, whether that is education, habitat protection or credible partnerships. She added:

The smartest move is to respond with empathy, protect the customer experience, and then use the spotlight to do good.

Others stress discernment. Not every trend warrants participation. Emotional equity can erode quickly if brands appear to hijack vulnerability or monetise grief. A pause-assess-align-respond approach is often wiser than immediate amplification.

"If there’s even a slight risk of reputational backlash when touching on sensitive or controversial issues brands must remember that the internet moves fast but reputation damage lasts long," said Teng.

Chaudhry noted that brands should question whether belonging is truly part of their DNA before jumping on the bandwagon. "If so, they should have a view on this. If not, they should stay away. After all, there is no such thing as orchestrated authenticity," he added. 

Punch’s rise may have begun with a young macaque and a plush toy, but the commercial ripple effect reveals something deeper about modern brand building. When culture unexpectedly chooses a product, the real test is not whether a brand can capitalise, but whether its meaning is strong enough to carry the moment without collapsing under it.

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