CASE STUDY: How Ikea tested the durability of its kitchens

Background
The company launched a campaign in Singapore and Malaysia to allow consumers to test kitchen solutions––and relationship with their friends at the same time. Leo Burnett developed the campaign.

Aim
The goal was to convince consumers that Ikea kitchens are built to last and to spread the word about the product’s 25-year guarantee. Hence, Ikea decided to test its kitchens against the one thing that people believe should really last in their lives––their relationships––since the kitchen is where tempers often rise and relationships get tested. The competition involved 36 teams of two contestants each.

Execution
The campaign challenged consumers to test their relationships at the Ikea 25-hour Cook-off: a 25-hour marathon challenge, designed to push the strongest relationships, and kitchens, to the limit. The prize was a new Ikea kitchen makeover. 

To participate in their respective countries, Singaporeans and Malaysians submitted online videos of their kitchen relationships and explained why they deserved an Ikea kitchen, for themselves or for someone else. 

The campaign engaged filmmaking group WahBanana to create a video, entitled '8 ways to make awesome videos', to help encourage the creativity of public entries. Ikea and Leo Burnett then selected 36 entries, with the best storyline, for the competition.

Organisers designed a series of challenges to test key relationship attributes, including teamwork, communication, patience and trust. Teams went through the challenges, such as cooking, making mash potato look like art and sorting through beans in the wee hours of the night while making the Ikea kitchens work just as hard.

Results
Ikea registered a year-to-date store-wide (including kitchenware) sales increase of 47 per cent in Singapore and 28 per cent in Malaysia; and drove in 64 per cent more store visitors in Singapore and 39 per cent more in Malaysia.

The online buzz for Ikea in both countries over the three months of the campaign was the highest the brand ever measured, driving Facebook fans up 10 per cent to 480,000 and people in both countries generated 180,000 new stories. The contest microsite produced a surge of over 150,000 visitors and 450,000 page views.

Online searches for Ikea kitchens increased by 12 per cent, compared to the campaign of the previous year. The WahBanana video went viral with over 300,000 views, delivering a 1:2 ROI in equivalent media value. In total, the company claims the PR garnered ROI of 1:3.