Playin’ With My Friends:

How IKEA re-engaged parents by thinking like their children

This is the story of how, by seeing a dinner party through the eyes of a child, IKEA reinvigorated the UK home furnishing market – and took disproportionate share of the subsequent growth.

Going back to the heart of the brand revealed an insight that helped us talk to parents in an emotionally resonant but nonetheless surprising way. Translating the IKEA design approach to our creative strategy was central to unlocking not only the creative opportunity, but also to ensuring the effectiveness of the work we produced.

Playin’ With My Friends delivered upon all of our campaign objectives.

Five years of home furnishing market decline were turned around, with the total market value increasing by £218.4m. Having increased our share to 6.6%, we took 31.5% of this growth – more than four times our fair market share.

The campaign also punched above its weight; our 8% share of voice delivered a hefty 34% of communications awareness, and in the immediate period after the campaign, we saw brand consideration increase by 3%.

Playin’ With My Friends also led to substantial commercial gain. Within the campaign period, it delivered a like-for-like sales uplift of 2.2%. In the short to medium term, the campaign delivered a £9 ROI, equating to £33.3m retail sales; this is 171% higher than the IKEA average return and 347% higher than retail category benchmarks. And in the longer-term, increased consideration added an incremental £9m attributable sales, giving Playin’ With My Friends an overall ROI short and longer term of £11.

All of which goes to show, the best way to re-engage the grown-ups really is to think like a child.