In 2019, IKEA wanted to show its commitment to sustainable consumption. But due to their democratic everyday low prices, some people perceive IKEA as “fast furniture” with durability issues. So how do you talk about sustainability when people think your products are disposable?

On a day when every retailer on planet earth was talking about the low prices we have every day, we decided to demonstrate IKEA’s durability instead. With a sale featuring only used IKEA products found on Denmark’s largest second-hand marketplace (DBA), and a direct call to action to “check DBA.dk before you buy new this Friday”. We even took over our own home page with a banner re-directing people to discover the used alternatives.

As IKEA did not have any offers, we knew people wouldn’t come to the stores, but many would still visit online to see if there were any offers. So we kept the campaign strictly digital only with a few physical objects.

It was important to bring the idea to life with the right partner. The largest site in second hand sale in Denmark is DBA (eBay), so we decided we needed them as a partner to bring the idea to life. However, we had to convince them over several meetings as it was a new way of using their site and they had to do coding and development of the site. We ended up convincing DBA to partner with IKEA and conduct the development needed on their site.

The partnership with DBA was an important part of the storytelling in the communication and PR.

We created an overlay of our webshop that would direct customers to a second-hand shop. At the same time we created SoMe posts and poster where we promoted second products that were being sold on that site as well as large display formats.

The Black Friday (Re)Sale inspired shoppers to save more and waste less, proving IKEA furniture doesn’t have to end up in landfill. The message was picked up by all national news carriers and major media outlets:

3.5 MILLION NEWS COVERAGE VIEWS ON BLACK FRIDAY (Danish population 5.8 million people)

+19% INCREASE IN THE BRAND KPI "POSITIVE IMPACT ON CLIMATE & SOCIETY"

+40,000 RE-DIRECTED CUSTOMERS

+877% IKEA SEARCHES ON DBA

+67% OF DANES REACHED

+70% IKEA ONLINE SALES