The Campaign

Every time an IKEA store launches in Japan, traffic jam become a huge public concern. Especially the 1st store in Tokyo, the neighborhood residents are so worried about this issue that people started "Anti-IKEA"protest movement. Our disruptive idea was to use people who gathered to join "Anti-IKEA" campaign, as OUR partner. We offered them a chance to furnish their own town with IKEA's furnitures for free! We encouraged them to furnish the local train for more comfortable commute, as well furnishing the street that connects train station to IKEA store. By furnishing the train and street together, people began to like IKEA and IKEA's furniture, and more importantly, people began to understand that they can use train to go to IKEA, not by car. What we did was just providing our furnitures, which eventually become a great direct advertisement in train and street.

The Brief

We needed to knock over the situation. Our goal was; 1. Stop "Anti-IKEA campaign" and change people's attitude to IKEA, make them 'like' IKEA. 2. Persuade people to visit new IKEA store by Train, not by their car, to avoid causing "IKEA traffic" 3. Prove that "IKEA is good for local society" to city government

Results

-New IKEA store visitation within the first 4weeks 562,466 - 130% more than our Target -Traffic congestion rate: 50% of customers come to the IKEA by train. (usually 10-20% ) -IKEA Happy Train : 51,000 tweets in 2weeks -TV exposures:26 TV program -Newspapers:80 Articles (Total AEV:1,743,504,667) -Web : 212 Articles (AEV: 165,720,912 JPY )

Execution

IKEA and local residents together furnished the local train and the deserted street. The town gets vividly. The news that the local train and street was being furnished beautifully spread through word of mouth and through SNS. Finally the opening day has come. People came IKEA by the furnished train, not by their own car. People enjoyed walking the long street from station to IKEA where now furnished beautifully. By just providing our furniture, IKEA successfully achieved the 3 goals that once seemed impossible to fulfill.

The Situation

The opening of new IKEA store is always the center of attention, but not in a good way this time. Tokyo is known for it's heavy traffic, so people thought the opening of IKEA must confound the situation. Some local people start "Anti-IKEA campaign" and even the city government sent alert notes for IKEA not to cause traffic. The issue of IKEA's new launch became a hot topic in Japan.

The Strategy

Our disruptive idea was to turn our enemy into our side. Who we get in touch with was the local people who had joined the "Anti-IKEA campaign". We offered them the furnitures for free before store opening, so that they can furnish their own town as they like. We also negotiated with local train company and got a green-light to make over the Train! We worked with local people to furnish the train so people can get more comfortable in their commute. Also we changed a deserted street that connects train station to IKEA store.