With IKEA’s superstores located on the outskirts of the city, a trip there is a long journey commitment that takes time and effort. By leveraging Google Maps Timeline, we saw an opportunity to reward loyal customers who made the trip regardless. Turning a trip barrier into a strength, we created an innovation that converts time spent on a trip to IKEA stores into currency. This is the first time that one's data can be one's own currency. That's why this innovation could potentially become very significant. Letting customers pay for goods with time, it could encourage more companies to follow.

IKEA’s stores are not like any other furniture stores; they are a destination in itself. Singles, couples and families make a devoted commitment to go there specially that they’re located far away from the city centres. IKEA takes this brand loyalty seriously and in fact, the motivation for opening Dubai’s second store was so that customers living nearer to Jebel Ali would not have as far to travel for their IKEA shopping experience. In addition to thanking their customers with a brand-new store, IKEA wanted to reward them with a distinctive brand experience for all the time and effort they have invested over the years getting to IKEA’s first store instead of seeking out convenient alternatives.

We saw an opportunity to reward IKEA’s loyal customers who previously made the trip by turning the effort and time they went through to get there into a strength. By leveraging Google Maps timeline, we created a brand activation that converts time spent to make a trip to IKEA stores into a currency that allows people to buy IKEA products based on the average salary* of people living in Dubai. This worked through Google Map’s timeline function that records past routes taken, where customers were able to show how many minutes they had spent on previous IKEA trips and this accumulated time was converted into a currency that allows them to spend on IKEA products.

*(https://www.guide2dubai.com/living/expat-life/dubai-salary-and-pay-scale)

In order to recognize IKEA’s loyal customers from singles to couples to families, especially Arab expats and Asians, it was only right to to reward them by repaying them for the time spent reaching IKEA’s stores, helping the Dubai community to make the most out of the precious time they have.

This was amplified by creating a seamless brand experience, from effortlessly being able to find how much time they spent on previous IKEA trips through an application they already have (Google Maps) to delightfully finding the products in-store with the time currency implemented to showing it to the cashier in-store who converted their time into the currency they can use to buy IKEA products.

The activation took place on 18th of December in the day of the second store opening in Jebel Ali. Once the Jebel Ali store doors opened, the customers were able to find how much they spent on previous trips from Google Maps Timeline and then shop with their converted time currency by finding the price placements for IKEA selected products as time currencies. Seamlessly going from department to another, they were delighted to see different products as returns for their time spent on their previous IKEA trips, pick it up and feel rewarded.

• The activation resulted in 32% increase in store footfall compared to our KPI in one day.

• 4.2 Billion impressions.

• $14 Million free earned media.

• Arrived in 72 countries from all around the world.

To recognize IKEA’s loyal customers and encourage them to visit IKEA’s second store, from singles to couples to families, it was only right to to reward them once they visit the second store by repaying them for the time spent reaching IKEA’s first stores, helping the Dubai community to make the most out of the precious time they have.

It was amplified by creating a seamless experience, from being able to find how much time they spent on previous IKEA trips through an application they already have (Google Maps) to finding the products in-store with the time currency implemented to showing it to the cashier in-store who converted their time into the currency