IKEA is a brand that makes great design available at a one price for the many people, and it doesn’t treat anyone differently. So when Barack Obama visited Oslo, Norway in September to speak at conference, spending his whole time on stage sitting in an IKEA LANDSKRONA chair, we had the perfect opportunity to prove just that. Norway is a small country and having ex-presidents visit is of course a huge deal, so with all eyes on this event we had the chance to join in and be relevant in this setting.

IKEA has strict guides for what to do with furniture that has been used for exhibitions, on film sets or have been returned by customers: they place them in the «as is»-isle at the warehouse at a reduced price, with a sticker explaining the reason why. So when the President stood up from the LANDSKRONA chair and left the stage, we took the chair back to the return desk, placed a sticker on it and sold it for 30% off it’s original price.

It was important for us to give credibility to the stunt, by not announcing it beforehand at all – other than through our social channels after the chair was actually up for sale. We wanted the chair to be treated exactly like any other piece of used furniture. We had to act quickly to stay relevant, and the chair was up for sale already the day after Obama sat in it.

After the event, we took the chair back to the IKEA warehouse and placed it for sale in the "as-is" isle. We posted a picture of the chair on Instagram and Facebook clearly showing the sticker that read:

“This chair has been used - by Barack Obama when he visited Oslo the 26th of September. Naturally we can’t sell it at full price anymore. LANDSKRONA chair has a warm and welcoming look, with a clean and classy expression. Kind of like the president himself. All in all, a great buy.”

The stunt got wide coverage in both national and local Norwegian press, both before and after the chair was sold (which happened within an hour or so). The buyer was a local teacher, who placed the chair in her elementary school’s library aiming to inspire the pupils to dream big in their lives. The biggest news broadcaster in Norway, NRK, had an article about this on the front page of their site.

AdAge listed the stunt as one of top creative work of that week, and the stunt got covered by several international news outlets.

For IKEA Norway this was their most engaging posts of the year so far.