This story appears in the May 2015 issue of strategy.
Bronze: Out-of-Box Retail
Imagine 200,000 people all moving on the same day: that’s what it’s like on Moving Day in Montreal. Over the years, Ikea has helped movers, and driven store traffic, by giving away free Ikea-branded moving boxes. In 2014, the brand wanted to find a way to heighten relevance and further strengthen the relationship between Montrealers and the brand, as well as increase store traffic and sales.
To make the boxes more relevant, Leo Burnett dug into the emotional journey of moving. The agency recognized that Montrealers need more than just boxes on Moving Day. Moving into a new place means they have to rethink their decor and furnishings. But a busy move doesn’t leave much time for redecorating.
So the agency and retailer transformed functional moving boxes into boxes of inspiration – the boxes became actual-size replicas of Ikea furnishings. For the first time, Montrealers were given a way to test Ikea products, such as the Malm nightstand, Stuva storage combination and Micke drawer unit. The moving boxes matched the exact size and colour of the real products.
Over the Canada Day long weekend, Montrealers were on the move (literally). To reach people during their last-minute preparations, a free-standing street-level board was constructed downtown where people could claim their “Boxes of Inspiration.”
The “Boxes of Inspiration” program contributed to a highly successful Moving Day period. The 2014 event saw a 16% increase in store visitors and a 6% increase in sales versus the previous year.
Credits:
Advertiser: Ikea Canada
Agency: Leo Burnett
CCO: Judy John
VP, CD: Lisa Greenberg
Group creative head: Morgan Kurchak
Group CD/CW: Steve Persico
Group CD/AD: Anthony Chelvanathan
SVP, general manager: David Kennedy
Account supervisor: Allison Tang, Danielle Iozzo
Asst. account executive: Tara Bryk
Strategic planner: Lisa Hart
Print producer: Anne Peck
Media agency: Jungle Media
VP, media connection planning: Brooke Leland
Media non-broadcast planner: Janet Xi
