IKEA : Background
Every year, IKEA prints around 200 million copies of its free catalogue in 27 languages for over 38 countries. Despite its tremendous reach the catalogue faced criticism of being junk mail, particularly in an online world.
The Case Study
IKEA needed a way to get its audience’s attention for the launch of its new catalogue. They also wanted to remind their audience of the wonderful properties that only a tangible catalogue can have in contrast to online shopping. By raising awareness of the new catalogue they hoped to get people excited about IKEA’s latest furniture and lifestyle products.
So they created an online video campaign that compared the printed catalogue against technology. The video was inspired by the Apple ‘MacBook’ advert but instead created a nostalgic love for the so-called IKEA ‘BookBook’. The humorous and engaging video emphasises the accessibility and ease of use of the catalogue. This clever marketing campaign proved highly successful and IKEA remains a world-wide recognised brand and continues to use the IKEA catalogue in their marketing mix.
Results
The video was initially launched for the Singapore and Malaysia markets however, its popularity soon spread worldwide.
- Over 6,000 people organically uploaded photos of themselves on Instagram alone interacting with their own ‘BookBook’.
- 8% increase in total sales across stores in Singapore, 13% increase in total sales in Malaysia.
- Over 1 million social media interactions across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
- The video retained 70% of their Malaysian and Singapore viewers until the very end compared to an industry average of just 40%.
- Over 19 million views on YouTube alone.
- 433k views from Singapore and 440k from Malaysia within the first few weeks of launch.
- The video outranked both Apple’s and Samsung’s new product videos on Mashable’s list in September 2014.
- #1 most watch video in Singapore and #3 in Malaysia in September 2014.