IKEA is a Swedish business and the largest furniture retailer in the world. Besides the investment in product quality, the success of IKEA also comes from the extremely creative way of communication. Let’s take a look at 10 outstanding advertising campaigns of the brand:
1. Stay Home
When the COVID-19 epidemic is breaking out, staying at home is the right thing to do to protect your health. Aware of its brand responsibility and influence, IKEA launched the “Stay Home” campaign in Spain in March 2020, urging people to stay at home more. This campaign doesn’t even have a clear call-to-purchase message. Thereby, IKEA shows its sincere concern for the health of customers and the whole community.
“Stay Home” was born with the goal of honoring the home. In the context of social isolation, home – which is a place of refuge and gives a sense of security – becomes suffocating and cramped. Understanding that, IKEA has designed a video that is only 30 seconds but recalls each experience, emotion and unforgettable moment that home brings. The slogan “Home is always there no matter what” also creates peace of mind in the chaotic epidemic situation.
2. Every home should be a haven
“Every home should be a haven” is another home-centered advertising campaign. This is a project IKEA in collaboration with Mother launched in October 2021. The campaign re-emphasizes the role of the home: providing comfort and a space to shake off the stress of life, thanks to the support of household products.
The central image of this project is two bodyguard bears. These two characters are always there to protect the precious moments of the family. This is also the key point in the statement of IKEA Communications director Kemi Anthony: “Although daily pressure can prevent a home from becoming a home, IKEA is committed to doing its best to help customers overcome difficulties. upper towel. Our campaign calls for building a space in our homes that we deserve.”
3. Augmented Reality
Virtual reality technology that once caused a stir in the world has been cleverly used by IKEA for its products. In 2013, the company first brought AR into its phone application. Users will turn on the phone’s camera to “wet” the product into the home space.
This comes from the survey results showing that 70% of customers do not really know the size of their room and up to 14% buy furniture that does not fit their home. Thanks to new technology, users will have a clearer picture of the item they intend to buy and choose the most suitable size, color, shape, and arrangement.
4. Pee Ad
“Pee Ad” is a very creative campaign aimed at pregnant women. With “Pee Ad,” female customers will do something rather odd: pee on the pages of magazines. In fact, the page has a piece of paper attached by IKEA that has the same effect as a pregnancy test: if the customer is pregnant, on the page will appear a discount code for the company’s latest baby crib product.
This promotion helps the brand support pregnant women in a subtle and interesting way; Sales for IKEA’s newly launched crib products were also strongly boosted. Showing a direct interest in a set of customers, “Pee Ad” won more than 12 awards, most notably the Clio Awards for Direct (the campaign most responded to by target customers).
5. It’s that affordable
“It’s that affordable” is a collaborative communication project between IKEA Saudi Arabia and Ogilvy company. Launched in June 2016, the campaign deals with the price of IKEA furniture in a novel way. “It’s that affordable” calculates the value of an item at IKEA through everyday trinkets. Specifically, instead of using money to price products, IKEA uses toothpaste tubes, stamps or soda cans, coffee cups as currency.
This way of communication helps to visually portray the value of IKEA products on items of negligible cost. Since then, the brand has created a more popular feeling for the product. Thanks to the smart way of contacting, “It’s that affordable” has received three awards from the 2016 Clio Awards. Even during the IKEA internal conference in Sweden, this option was also given as an “example” that the company should continue. continue to follow.
6. Don’t Sleep On It
“Don’t Sleep On It” is a campaign to raise awareness among women about breast cancer. The key product in the campaign is the “Kransborre” mattress. The campaign was carried out by agency Leo Burnett at the end of 2021. The company is from Saudi Arabia, where breast cancer has a mortality rate of up to 14.8%.
The words printed on the mattress are “Don’t Sleep On It – Early detection saves lives”. This is a play on words from IKEA: a mattress product that tells customers “Don’t sleep on it”? This line is actually an English idiom that reminds female customers “Don’t delay – Early detection saves lives”. In addition, the product tag also prints detailed instructions on how to self-check the tumor.
7. Love collection
“Love collection” is the 2020 Valentine’s Day media campaign in Taiwan. Instead of promoting the most sought-after products, “Love Collection” created a collection of a series of “lonely” holiday items – the products with the lowest sales.
This is a humorous cross-platform media campaign. On Youtube, a simple video summarizing the products is dubbed quite strange. On social networking sites such as Instagram, each item is posted with the title “listening”: a clothespin that “clings to me for life”, or a rope “I will never let go of your hand”.
8. Phone-powered hot pot
In second place is another prominent IKEA advertising campaign in Taiwan. In 2016, IKEA released a hot pot with a strange mechanism: instead of plugging in and adjusting the heat levels, this pot will heat up as many phones are placed under it.
The video is set in a scene where a family gathers around a hot pot – a typical dish of Chinese cuisine, thereby creating a feeling of familiarity and closeness to customers in the Taiwanese market. Along with that, realizing that many people are addicted to using their phones to the point of skipping the direct connection, IKEA has designed a “tech hotpot”, which helps to separate them from the phone voluntarily. This communication idea is considered meaningful and suitable for the market.
9. Buy With Your Time
Born in Dubai in 2020, “Buy With Your Time” is an innovation step of IKEA. With “Buy With Your Time”, customers are paid by the time they go to the IKEA store. The larger the travel time shown on Google Maps, the more money customers have to buy things.
The origin of this advertising campaign is due to the location of the IKEA stores: usually located in the suburbs where there is ample display space. This creates inconvenience in reaching customers. To compensate users, encourage them to visit IKEA often, “Buy With Your Time” was born and shows the brand’s appreciation for the valuable time customers spend to get to the store.
10. Moving Day
July 1 is Canada’s National Day and is the traditional day of moving house for Quebecers. Understanding the huge demand for furniture packaging on this day, IKEA collaborated with advertising agency Leo Burnett to build the “Moving Day” campaign. A large number of carton boxes are provided to the people; On each box there are helpful tips for moving house. IKEA carton boxes are made from 85% renewable materials, and can be folded into a lounge chair.
Unlike the above campaigns, “Moving Day” is IKEA’s annual event for the past 10 years. “Moving Day” first appeared in 2011 and was a huge success: 15,000 cartons were distributed, resulting in a 14% increase in store visits and 24.5% in sales that weekend. In 2012, IKEA continued to deploy “Moving Box”, using trucks to deliver carton boxes to each neighborhood.
“Moving Day” has won many outstanding awards: Silver Award for Best Insight, Best Use of Media (CASSIES), Effie Gold Award (a prestigious award in the global marketing and communication industry).
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