FROM SWEDEN TO SOCAL TO NATIONAL

Faced with stagnant sales, IKEA tested an unconventional approach: they gave a relatively small ad agency, Secret Weapon, a relatively small assignment: turn around in the Los Angeles market. We identified two major challenges: 1) IKEA is only known for their modern Swedish–style furniture, which wasn't what a large percentage of the population wanted. We knew they made items that were more in line with American tastes, so we focused on those in our ads. 2) People only shop for furniture during major life events like moving, having a child, getting divorced, etc. We knew we couldn't affect the frequency of those events, so we created a new reason to buy furniture: entertaining. We suspected people would take a fresh look at their home and spruce it up if they knew guests were coming over. We encouraged them to be the host, and that spurred visits to IKEA to buy sofas, pillows, glassware, and more, resulting in a sales increase of 15% while the furniture industry was only up 3%. IKEA was so pleased with our results in LA, they awarded us the rest of the country.