This story appears in the May 2015 issue of strategy.

Gold: Changing Behaviour
Silver: Integration
Silver: Out of the Box Retail
Silver: Path to Purchase

Many people think changing a room’s look and feel requires a major renovation, which can be both expensive and time consuming. The challenge was to get people feeling confident and comfortable “renovating” with textiles from Ikea.

So, with the help of Leo Burnett, the furniture retailer launched the “Quick & Easy Room Makeover.” The idea was to show people how little changes can make a big difference, and break down the barrier preventing people from going with their gut and trying it out for themselves.

The agency created two-minute TV episodes of the “Quick & Easy Room Makeover Show,” which depicted real couples working with a well-known designer to help transform their rooms using Ikea textiles.

Leo Burnett also created a free-standing street-level board with life-size paper samples of Ikea textiles, and consumers were invited to take home rug, curtain and cushion samples. Product information was also printed on the back of the sample goods to encourage them to shop for more.

Online, an expandable masthead takeover on YouTube encouraged consumers to play with cushion, curtain, throw and rug sliders to give a white space a new look. Once the “room” was transformed, they could share their design or download a PDF with product information.

Ikea saw an 11% sales increase in textiles, a 10% increase in total store visitors and the average shopping basket increased 5%. The “Quick & Easy Room Makeover Show” received more than four million media impressions. Over 8,900 textile samples were distributed through the street-level board, and the YouTube tool achieved 50% more interaction time than the norm. There were also 2,500 click-throughs to Ikea.ca from social media, and #IkeaMakeover garnered over one million impressions.

Credits:

Advertiser: Ikea Canada
Agency: Leo Burnett
CCO: Judy John
CD: David Federico
Group CDs: Morgan Kurchak, David Federico
CWs: Matt Williamson, Jon Murray
AD: Andrew Hart
Designers: Trevor Bell, Sean Perkins
Flash developers: Chad Elston, Kavin Wong
Web developer: Margaret Beck
Director, creative technology: Felix Wardene
Digital project manager: Thomas Degez
Print producer: Anne Peck
Group account director: Natasha Dagenais
Account director: Danielle Iozzo
Account executive: Rebecca Simon
Planner, director: Lisa Hart
Strategic planner: Heather Morrison
Social media planner: Michael McDonald-Beraskow
Media agency: Jungle Media
VP media connection planning: Brooke Leland
Media broadcast planner: Krystal Seymour
Media non-broadcast planner: Janet Xi