IKEA was about to open a new store in the region of Ringsaker, Norway. Normally, the inhabitants drove 3-4 hours to Oslo to shop at IKEA. So they were thrilled to get their very own store nearby. However we discovered a challenge caused by the upcoming opening: -While waiting for the new store, people stopped going to IKEA Oslo. To keep the locals loyal to IKEA while waiting for the actual opening, we turned their homes into small IKEA departments. Fully operational with products to buy, lots of inspiration, a playroom for the kids, and of course meatballs!

The campaign kicked off 2 months before the opening of the new store - first by recruiting homes for the departments, but more important, inviting people to visit through social media. The actual departments were open every week for four weeks, so people could drive around the region and come visit. The pre-openings became such a big hype in press and social media, that we decided to downscale promotion announcing it, to ensure a good shopping experience for all customers.

More than 3000 people applied to host a department, and we actually had to stop recruitment, since we only needed 10. All pre-openings was covered by the media (354 press clips in total) with a reach of 14 million (estimated was 5), and it generated 1,9 million page-views on Facebook (Norway has 5 million inhabitants). 50% heard about the pre-opnings, and a record breaking 1/3 of all the people in the region visited the new store. All sales goals were reached within good margin, and 94% say they find IKEA a very good neighbour.