about ikea
We started working together with IKEA in the fall of 1996. By that time the fast growth of the 80s had leveled out and IKEA was up against a totally new challenge - a mature market. Sales turnover stood stagnant at around 5 billion Swedish crowns, and the brand just wasn't as captivating in its home market. Many younger people associated IKEA with their parents as well as the rooms of their childhoods. They were choosing other solutions for their own homes, especially in the living room.
After a first fumbling effort we completely started over with IKEA. There were intensive discussions going on parallel with a lot of research. We talked to many consumers, both in one-on-one interviews and in focus groups. The results were both surprising and unequivocal.
What was holding IKEA back in Sweden was not rational, or even functional aspects. Everyone knew practically everything about IKEA. Instead there was a huge emotional problem. At a time when the interest in interior home decoration was exploding, IKEA was being seen as the slightly boring, conventional solution for folks with no imagination. At the same time people were striving for creative self-expression. The home was seen as an extension of the individual's personality.
This insight became the corner stone for a totally new strategy in which we envisioned IKEA as a smart tool for creative people, rather than as finished solutions - like a huge LEGO set with unlimited possibilities.
Instead of emphasizing our own excellence we again and again the creative users made the starting point. We spotlighted different, smart and especially somewhat kooky solutions. Completely average people using IKEA's fantastic product choices in their own unique way.
This gave IKEA advertising a clear purpose in the battle to turn stagnation into growth.
Nothing is impossible became our motto and sometimes even our sign off. We defined a new modern tone that stirred up some internal debate at first. We came upon Perishables (Färskvaror), a complete concept for communicating news. We created a continuous flow of large campaigns and in close partnership with IKEA we created The Ten Book (Tioboken), a detailed plan for how IKEA would be able to double its revenues in Sweden in just five years. (Yup, even we ourselves thought this was kind of a pie-in-the-sky goal.) And we distributed the book to all employees.
Some years later we got a slightly different brief. Developments had turned - IKEA was back to being modern and the dominant power within Swedish interior home design. Even sales had turned upward. Now IKEA wanted us to turn up the sales pace even further. The goal of doubled revenue was still out there.
We came up with a new concept for presenting special offer ads in the daily press. Along with this came what we referred to as the "crusade" strategy. To build large, integrated campaigns for whole product categories - kitchen, bedroom, living room and storage - for example. At the same time, we decided to make the internet our core media.
IKEA "Dream kitchens for all" was the first crusade campaign out, with TV ads, print and an extremely ambitious web idea. The campaign site used entirely new techniques to demonstrate inspiring kitchens, and became a huge success. Over a million users visited the site in three months - in a country with nine million inhabitants! Sales increased dramatically.
Today this model has become a given ingredient in our ongoing collaborative strategy. IKEAs internet campaigns have in recent years been the most awarded in the ad world, and a few have been produced as global projects. These days we also have the main responsibility for The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
So, okay, how did it go with the crazy idea of doubling revenues? Well, it took a few months more than what we wrote in The Ten Book. But IKEA was successful in doubling sales, in its most mature market, in just under six years.
To be able to be a tiny cog in such a fantastic and huge development process is a real treat for an ad agency. Thank you, IKEA.