In 2018 IKEA celebrated its 75th anniversary. As part of the celebration, our task was to say «Thank you» to our customers in-store. And it had to be done in all 14 IKEA stores in Russia.

We could not create any additional media placements inside the stores for two reasons:

1. We couldn’t mess with in-store navigation and a familiar customer path.

2. We didn’t have any media budget.

Traditionally, Scandinavian design is minimal, functional and doesn’t scream. It blends with surroundings. We needed to create something nobody would miss. And put it where no one expected it. So we put it on IKEA employees.

We made a graphic pattern out of iconic IKEA items, turned it into a tattoo art, and put it on arms of IKEA cashiers. On each tattoo sleeve, we wrote “Thank you for coming only for candles”. Usually, customer expects so see a tattooed employee in a skateboard store or a guitar shop. Nobody expected to see this in IKEA. So every customer noticed and read our message of gratitude. Most customers looked twice and even pointed their fingers.

We had to come up with a solution to satisfy three conditions:

1. No media budget

2. We can’t mess with in-store navigation and functionality.

3. We had to reach most, if not all, IKEA in-store customers.

Since our TA is everyone who comes to IKEA, we had to deliver our message in a way that would talk to each customer. Our message had to stand out and get noticed by everybody.

In order to catch every customer, we decided to use cashiers’ area since every buying customer has to go through checkout.

And since we had no media budget, we had to invent our own media channel.

IKEA is known for a magnitude of affordable designs, but only some of them are truly iconic. We researched the top-10 most widely known IKEA items.

We made a graphic pattern based on iconic IKEA items, then we turned it into a tattoo art. Message of gratitude “Thank you for coming only for candles” along with “IKEA 75 Years” logo was the centerpiece of this artwork.

When choosing the tattoo style, we opted for the illustrative doodle-like design because it fits the simplicity of world-famous IKEA instruction manuals.

We used a stretchable fabric sleeve made of nylon and spandex to put the tattoo artwork on. Base color of the sleeve was chosen to match the skin tone of employees, so it totally looked like a real tattoo on their arms.

For two weeks of celebration, we engaged customers in all 14 IKEAs in Russia.

Altogether, a two-week activation in 14 IKEA stores tallied more than 500 000 customer interactions.

None of the customers expected to see cashiers with such impactful tattoos, so most of them were both shocked and amused. Most customers even pointed their fingers and looked twice. This reaction ensured that customers read our message of gratitude, encapsulated in an ironic manner: “Thank you for coming only for candles.”

This message reflects a common insight: you can come to IKEA for something small, like candles, but leave with a sofa or a fully outfitted bedroom. And since every buying customer has to go through the cashier, we increased their chances of seeing our message.

Since we practically invented a new communication channel (hands of employees), IKEA reaffirmed its brand value of staying trendy and personal for each customer without having to use multiple costly media channels.