If you'd rather listen to this information, head to Spotify or Google Podcasts to listen to my podcast Brand Buff - Episode 1: Ikea.
Let's take a quick walk down memory lane. What you were doing when you were 17? At that age, Ingvar Kamprad founded Ikea. Young Kamprad chose to put the money he received as gift from his father for doing well in school to good use. He initially only sold small goods like pens, wallets and the like at Ikea. It was an employee, Gillis Lundgren, who once removed the legs of an Ikea table to transport it in a car and this hack that saved Gillis transportation time and money, led to the beginning of IKEA’s iconic easy to assemble furniture.
Ever since, Ikea has sold an experience and not just products. While IKEA, as you know it ,is famous for its meatballs and the design inspiration online and offline, the newest form of connection that the brand is trying to build is through its the Instagram handle Ikeatoday, on which viewers can see behind the scenes of IKEA product development and get a sneak peek into what the company is working on and how they make it all happen.
Let's talk dates now. While Ikea was founded in 1943, it only sold its first piece 13 years later in 1956, before it even opened it first brick and mortar store in 1958. But famous Ikea catalogues have been around since 1951.
Did u know that more Ikea catalogues are printed compared to the Bible – the number currently stands at north of 200 million.
Globally 2000 new products are introduced each year, and the design team works backwards. The team sets the price and then begins to design and source materials to meet the decided price point.
Moving onto one of Ikea's biggest strengths, i.e. marketing. For starters, you can catch their product placements in movies like Flight Club, 500 Days of Summer, and the show 30 Rock. Does watching these movies last weekend count as research for this article or leisure?
CONSUMER RESEARCH & CAMPAIGN
Ikea really steps it up with its consumer research, it goes beyond just the usual surveys – it actually sends people to the homes of consumers to understand and listen to the concerns of the user and to receive feedback firsthand. Here’s an example of how the brand uses its consumer research. In 2014, Ikea came up with the campaign called "First 59" in which it asked its customers about their morning routine and the impact it has on the rest of the day. The phone survey that included about 1000 people showed that a stressful morning can absolutely spoil the remaining hours of the day. Using these insights, IKEA engaged with its users by uploading various tips on its website to help people get a better start to their day.
Additionally, Ikea is known as a great source of inspiration for everything home related, be it the online home tour series videos or the aesthetically pleasing inspiration boards on Pinterest.
Their funniest campaign till date definitely has to be the one in which IKEA took a dig at the launch video of Apple products – in the video called “Experience the power of the bookbook”, Ikea calls its catalogue a “bookbook” – similar to, well you guessed it, the MacBook and talks about its seamless features. Trust me, it's funnier when you see it.
TECHNOLOGY
Through the “Ikea place” app and its augmented reality feature users can see how and where to fit the Ikea furniture in their room, just In case you’re not able to imagine it by just looking at the catalog. The company also uses virtual reality technology through which users can actual cook in the famous Ikea kitchen.
Marketing efforts: Ahead of its time, the Swedish giant featured a gay couple in its 1994 ad, a time when homosexuality wasn't dealt very well with – kudos to Ikea!
Moving away from Ikea's marketing to its lesser known asset. While DIY-everything has had its shining moments, there also exist DIY homes - more officially called Flatpack Homes. While building homes right from scratch might be something people enjoy doing, these flatpack homes can be assembled in very little time. If you’re impatient and want to build a tiny home, then this is for you.
In context of Ikea, these homes are scheduled to come to the UK next year and will create 162 affordable houses. The Worthing Council in West Sussex will work with a company Boklok, which is partly owned by Ikea. It already own 11,000 homes across Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, and wanted to break into the British market. Flatpack homes come with flooring, tiling - all built offsite, but assembling is done on location and can be built in a single day.
IKEA INDIA
The newest Ikea campaign in India, is "home is full of possibilities" which you can read more on right here.
Here are some quick facts:
Aside from the furniture, 11.6 billion Swedish meatballs are sold in UK alone.
The average size of an Ikea store is a whopping 300,000 feet, i.e. 42 tennis courts, and the largest store in the world is double this size!!
You can visit an Ikea Museum in Almhult
If you’re bored of the way your room looks like right now, then get a virtual makeover by Ikea. Simply download the zoom background feature that is available on Ikea's website.
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