IKEA ANIMAL CROSSING CATALOGUE

TitleIKEA ANIMAL CROSSING CATALOGUE
BrandIKEA
Product / ServiceHOME FURNITURE
CategoryD01. Use of Brand or Product Integration into a Programme or Platform
EntrantOGILVY TAIWAN Taipei City, TAIWAN
Idea Creation OGILVY TAIWAN Taipei City, TAIWAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Giant Kung Ogilvy Taiwan Chief Creative Officer
EJ Chiang Ogilvy Taiwan Group Creative Director
Ming Lee Ogilvy Taiwan Associate Creative Director
Madeline Chen Ogilvy Taiwan Copywriter
Ella Hsu Ogilvy Taiwan Business Director
Wen Huang Ogilvy Taiwan Account Director
Jeannie Lee Ogilvy Taiwan Account Director
Crystal Tsou Ogilvy Taiwan Account Manager
Hailie Lin Ogilvy Taiwan Account Executive

Why is this work relevant for Media?

The “IKEA Catalogue, Animal Crossing edition,” created by IKEA and Animal Crossing, made precise use of games with the same characteristics to mobilize the gaming community, with their passionate emotional connections, turning them into our content creators and powerfully effective marketers. With zero media investment, we attracted media reports from over 30 countries. Springboarding from Taiwan, we spread around the world.

Background

In 2020 IKEA announced that the catalogue they had published for 70 years would see its final printing. As they bid this legendary catalogue farewell, IKEA had a crucial mission: They needed an ingenious way to entice customers into transitioning from print to a digital environment.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

IKEA discovered that people who play Animal Crossing—the hottest video game of the moment—feel passionate about arranging furniture, and they have bountiful imaginations. This gave them a very high degree of overlap with our target consumer group. That’s why IKEA Taiwan enlisted the help of 26 million Animal Crossing players, inviting them to collectively create the very first Animal Crossing virtual IKEA catalogue, using only the furniture and objects already available in the game.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

IKEA discovered that Animal Crossing players were a group of people extremely passionate about arranging furniture, with bountiful imaginations. There was a very high degree of overlap between them and our target consumer group. Collectively building an “IKEA Catalogue, Animal Crossing edition” led the players to constantly flip through the print catalogue’s pages on their own initiative. They researched every page of the original version, analyzing the style of the photos, and the furniture and objects they contained, creating content for us. We also made use of the strong emotional connections among game club members to generate Share of Voice and usher in a huge impact in the media.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Step 1: Mobilize the Animal Crossing gamer community We enticed Animal Crossing gamers, who love interior decoration and are always up for a challenge, to use the limited selection of furniture, home decorations and characters already available in the game to replicate the pages of the original IKEA catalogue. The many restrictions in the game sparked inspiration and ingenuity in interior design, which served as fuel for a tremendous volume of social media discussion. Step 2: Ramp up the heat on social media On social media we invited everyone to share comments and vote, comparing the photos in the original catalogue with the Animal Crossing version, and casting ballots for the best interior decoration of the year. This drove everyone to browse through the online IKEA catalogue on their own initiative, while also generating plenty of buzz and interaction.

List the results (30% of vote)

With zero media investment, we scored 1.4 million clickthroughs to the online catalogue in the first 24 hours. A single Facebook post generated reach of over 3 million. It got translated into 16 languages, and media in over 30 countries reported on it.

Links

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