- IKEA aims at creating an experience and not products.
- Investing in content marketing.
- Get to know the customers by keeping it real and unique.
- Bringing the family closer.
- Sharing responsibilities.
IKEA is a Sweden based company. It was the world’s largest furniture retailer that specialized in stylish but inexpensive designed furniture. The founder of IKEA was Ingvard Kamprad, the farm and the village that he grew in was Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd and this is how the name IKEA came into existence with the initial letters of his full name, farm, and village in 1943.
IKEA’s slogan is “Creating a better everyday life for the many people” and taking this into consideration IKEA has focused its aim on producing customer-centred content marketing with a powerful message along with it. These ads and campaigns are surely made to touch the hearts of the viewers. If we notice their ads and campaigns, then one can notice that how the idea isn’t to sell the products but it is to sell an idea and the emotions along with it. These ads are designed creatively so as to gather the attention of the audience and make them feel at ease. Some of the best IKEA ads and marketing campaigns are as follows:
1. My Son:
This is a French ad campaign by IKEA that has shown the relationship between the mother and the son and their bond. This commercial shows that a mother and her young son buying furnishings, the boy takes the lead as the mother looks on with pride and he also offers to pay once they reach the payment counter. It chiefly states that the mother has seen his son growing and currently creating his own choices while buying the furniture and other home decors and the price still remains the same.
2. The BookBook:
This commercial was released in 2015 it ran in Singapore and Malaysia which was widely applauded globally for the satirical take on apple’s commercial style. The brief was to make the people take note of the annual IKEA catalogue when it arrives in their mailbox. It makes the audience feel that there is something worth to open and look forward to, with this video they have tried to give the identical feeling of how people would experience for a new tech product launch and that feeling makes the catalogue feel special. IKEA was having fun throughout the e-driven times.
3. Australian Wedding:
An Australian couple had declared not solely their love for each other but also for IKEA by tying the knot at Sydney store on Valentine’s day. This was a Facebook campaign by IKEA during which people had to compete for getting married in an IKEA store. A large number of people accepted this campaign and this is how one of the IKEA-obsessed couples got a chance to get married in their Sydney store. The complete wedding and its décor were arranged by IKEA itself wherein they were promoting their idea ‘Create a stylish and beautiful wedding with the affordable and inspirational IKEA product range.’
4. Moving? Here is IKEA to help you:
Guerrilla or ambient marketing, IKEA continuously takes a bold approach. Their ‘Moving day’ marketing stunt in Quebec caught passer-by’s attention with free boxes of moving that were printed with moving tips, a listing, a dinner supply for those yet to set up their kitchens, and a discount offer for IKEA furnishings. By this, there was an increase in the store traffic and sales.
5. The hotpot table:
This ad depicts a family gathering for a lavish Taiwanese hotpot feast and slowly the heating element begins to rise out of the table. The diners quickly notice that they will have to fight the urge to take photos with their phone otherwise they won’t be ready to cook this delicious food. When some of the diners pull away from their phone the heat automatically drops to a level that is not enough to cook their food. Aside from the risk of undercooked meat, the coercive nature of the table eventually succeeds in getting everybody to interact like normal humans without the use of cell phones.
6. Low Cost:
IKEA’s advertising agency in Saudi Arabia, Memac Ogilvy and Mather demonstrated that however low cost the IKEA furnishings is by using everyday merchandise like pizza boxes and tubes of toothpaste as an illustrative measuring stick. People often buy IKEA because it’s cheaper than the alternatives and worth for the price, the quality is almost decent and the design is also usually quite good and this is how the marketing agency took this as an opportunity to create something distinctive. When these common daily use items are placed next to each other the image of the furniture is completed just like a jigsaw puzzle. The objective is to convey affordability- an IKEA table costs the same as three coffees, a nightstand costs the same as six tubes of toothpaste, a bookcase costs the same as two pizzas and so on and this is how they have compared things which determines that how cheap and good their furniture and other products are.
7. Pee to see:
IKEA’s Swedish agency came up with this novel way to get would be parents streaming through the doors to the company’s outlet- a magazine for baby cribs that doubles as a pregnancy test. IKEA is encouraging the possibly pregnant to pee on the ad in its latest catalogue, the paper of that contains similar technology to the pregnancy test. If the test is positive, then the ad reveals a special discounted value on the cribs.
8. Cheeky on valentine’s:
IKEA came up with this holiday offer which stated that if the customers buy a crib today and if the baby is born on November 14, 2013, which is exactly 9 months after valentine’s day then the crib is free. The limit was also stated which was one crib per baby and the coupon and proof should be provided. This ad campaign worked as it was universally funny, not offensive, and straight to the point. Place in your room: IKEA is not afraid of the technology and they always look into innovation and experimentation. This is how augmented reality came into the picture and it was one of the first furniture retailers that stepped into this and helped the customers to make their right purchasing decisions. Back in 2013, IKEA launched a catalogue app feature called ‘Place in your room’ wherein it allowed the users to try out their desired products in their homes. It allows the 360- degree room views and videos to help customers find out the best matching products.
9. Place in your room:
IKEA is not terrified of the technology and that they always look into innovation and experimentation. This is how augmented reality came into the picture and it was one of the first furniture retailers that stepped into this and helped the purchasers to create their right purchasing decisions. Back in 2013, IKEA launched a catalogue app feature called ‘Place in your room’ whereby it allowed the users to try out their desired products in their homes. It permits the 360- degree room views and videos to assist customers to find out the best matching merchandise.
10. Sharing Responsibilities:
IKEA recently launched a brand-new campaign in India – ‘Home is where it all begins’ across televisions and digital channels. This pandemic has made the home the epicentre of everything we do and pushed us to re-evaluate how living spaces are utilized more than ever before. It is a place where we grow every day. This ad highlights that being a family is not just about having a meal together or other fun times but it is also about partnering with one another to navigate through changes and milestone that happens in family’s life. This ad also shows that the couple was expecting a baby and the way the father is teaching their firstborn to take up responsibilities, helping one another to start preparing for tomorrow and grow together as a family. This way through IKEA’s wide range of functional and affordable home furnishing solutions is a key enabler to make this journey of change simple and fun.
With all these ad campaigns by IKEA, we can see that there is always a purpose behind showing and selling what they require. They are non-judgmental about their opinions and pass out a good message that attracts the purchasers to shop for their products. IKEA’s unique philosophy and approach to design informs everything the company does including marketing in pursuit of fulfilling its mission “To create a better everyday life for the many people”. They understand their customer and how to present value to them through their products. IKEA does not try to be something they are not; they know that their furniture requires significant assembly and they do not try to hide that fact. The main lesson that we can learn from IKEA is ‘Transparency and knowing your brand is the right combination for success.’ Also, they believe that their ad campaigns can follow these three words “Keep it Quirky”. Change easy and fun.
Pradnya Kunder
Content writer
Tejas Yeole
Graphic designer
Parth Panchal
Editor
Very informative n well written article
very informative and well written