IKEA has 5.5 million members in its loyalty club. But not all of them were opted in to receive our emails, which meant they were missing out on the majority of our great offers and inspiring content. Our job was to convince them to sign up by opting in.

Our strategy was to demonstrate, hands-on what IKEA FAMILY members were missing out on, with a compelling reason to sign up. Delivered in a way that would make them feel special, showing off the inspiring digital content they could expect from us.

We created the world’s first cross-stitched email that looked as if it had been carefully crafted by hand. We mimicked the iconography of a digital envelope on the outer, with our ‘email’ waiting inside. And we carried the theme through in the online

Purposefully mixing the executional norms of two separate channels, our cross-stitched email blurred the lines between online and offline. Showing members what they were missing with a disruptive, engaging idea that encouraged them to opt in-to our regular emails.

We knew the execution had to be special, and needed to reflect the care and craft we put into creating all emails. So, we designed the world’s first cross-stitched 'handmade' email.

The outer referenced an email notification, with the headline ‘You have 1 unread message’. Once opened the cross-stitched fabric ‘email’ was revealed. This very analogue solution captured members’ hearts and in turn, their email addresses.

A seamless customer journey continued online, with the handcrafted feel evident from the signup process to the first welcome email.

Memorable, unique and ‘handcrafted’, it gave members a hands-on demonstration of the lovely stuff they’d get in their inbox, in a very IKEA way.