IKEA - Advertising

Advertising

In 1994, IKEA ran a commercial in the United States widely thought to be the first commercial featuring a homosexual couple; it aired for several weeks before being pulled due to bomb threats directed at IKEA stores. Other IKEA commercials feature the gay community, once featuring a transgender woman.

In 2002, the inaugural television component of the "Unböring" campaign, titled Lamp, went on to win several awards, including a Grand Clio, Golds at the London International Awards and the ANDY Awards, and the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the most prestigious awards ceremony in the advertising community.

IKEA launched a UK-wide "Home is the Most Important Place in the World" advertising campaign in September 2007 using estate agent signs with the term "Not For Sale" written on them as part of the wider campaign. After the campaign appeared in the Metro newspaper London the business news website www.mad.co.uk remarked that the IKEA campaign had amazing similarities with the marketing activity of UK home refurbishment company Onis living who had launched their own Not For Sale advertising campaign two years prior and was awarded the Interbuild 2006 Construction Marketing Award for best campaign under £25,000.

A debate ensued between Fraser Patterson, Chief Executive of Onis and Andrew McGuinness, partner at Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), the advertising and PR agency awarded the £12m IKEA account. The essence of the debate was that BMB claimed to be unaware of Onis's campaign as Onis were not an advertising agency. Onis's argument was that their advertising could be seen in prominent landmarks throughout London, having been already accredited, showing concern about the impact IKEA's campaign would have on the originality of their own.

After some negotiations BMB and IKEA agreed to provide Onis with a feature page on the IKEA campaign site linking through to Onis's .co.uk site, for a period of 1 year. Onis is possibly the only company to have ever been advertised by IKEA in such a fashion. In 2008, Onis Homes limited was placed into voluntary liquidation and the website www.onishome.com closed.

The Intellectual Property and trading rights of Onis Homes Limited were later purchased by new shareholders with the strategy to grow the Onis brand throughout the U.K. as a one stop shop home refurbishment franchise using the trading name Onis living.

In 2008, IKEA paired up with the makers of popular video game The Sims 2 to make a stuff pack called The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff, featuring many IKEA products. It was released on 24 June 2008 in North America and 26 June 2008 in Europe. It is the second stuff pack with a major brand, the first being The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff, which are both coincidentally companies of Swedish origin.

IKEA has taken over title sponsorship of Philadelphia's annual Thanksgiving Day parade in 2008, replacing Boscov's, who filed for bankruptcy in August 2008.

In November 2008, a subway train decorated in IKEA style was introduced in Novosibirsk, Russia. Four cars were turned into a mobile showroom of the Swedish design. The redesigned train, which features colourful seats and fancy curtains, carried passengers until 6 June 2009.

Oyster cards (the ticket-free system for London Underground) were for a time given with wallets sponsored by IKEA who also sponsor the tube map.

In January 2009, just before the new store opened in Southampton, the MV Red Osprey of Red Funnel was re-painted in an entirely yellow and blue livery to celebrate the opening of the new IKEA store in Southampton. This is the first time a Red Funnel ferry has been re-painted out of its own red and white colour scheme. It stayed in these colours for 12 months as part of a deal between Red Funnel and IKEA to provide home delivery services to the Isle of Wight. It was repainted with Red Funnel's red and white livery when the deal ended in January 2010.

In March 2010, IKEA developed an event in four important Metro stations in Paris, in which furniture collections are displayed in high-traffic spots, giving potential customers a chance to check out the brand's products. The Metro walls were also filled with prints that showcase IKEA interiors.

In September 2010, IKEA launched an advertisement for UK & Ireland called "Happy Inside" which had 100 cats lying on IKEA furniture in the flagship IKEA store in Wembley, London.

In April 2011, an advertising campaign for which aims to discover whether men or women are messier in the home launched. Created by Mother, the campaign will begin with a TV advert shot in front of a live audience, featuring four stand-up comedians, two men and two women, having the debate over which gender is the messiest. The strategy behind the campaign is that domestic clutter leads to arguments, leading to an unhappy home, which IKEA wants to prove can be avoided with better storage. Viewers will be directed to a new Facebook page for the brand, where they are able to vote as to who they believe is the messiest, and submit proof using videos and photos through an app created especially for the campaign. Meanwhile, online display banners will allow off users the opportunity to vote, with online adverts promoting Ikea products also demonstrating the problems people have shared, and offering solutions.

Anna Crona, marketing director at IKEA UK and Ireland, explained: "We are committed to understanding how our customers live life at home so we can provide solutions to make life happier. Everybody has storage needs in the home and by encouraging debate and providing solutions we will show that IKEA is relevant to everybody, no matter what your home is like or how much money you have." Press adverts will also support the campaign, as will a handbook entitled "Peace, Love and Storage", which will be available through the Facebook site.

In August 2011, IKEA launched a first advertisement for Thailand in Sukhumvit, Bangkok Metro station. The advertisement has shown a box and a manual of POANG product, and shown a slogan of company "A better everyday life at home".

During the launch of the new catalog in August 2012, IKEA toured with giant IKEA catalog through the Netherlands. This giant catalog was somekind of tent, inside were some new articles presented, coffee and snacks were served and you could get a catalog with yourself projected on the cover. The IKEA catalog was run by coworkers from the nearest store. The catalog was in the city centres of Rotterdam, Groningen, Amersfoort and Eindhoven.