IKEA Moving Day (Quebec) 2012

Events, Seasonal and Short-Term (BRONZE)

Client Credits: IKEA Canada
Hilary Lloyd, Country Marketing Manager
Kirsten Ryan, Marketing Manager
Jonelle Ricketts, Marketing Manager

Agency Credits: Leo Burnett
Judy John, Chief Creative Officer
David Federico, Group Creative Head
Morgan Kurchak, Group Creative Head
David Kennedy, SVP Group Account Director
Natasha Dagenais, Group Account Director
Danielle Iozzo, Account Supervisor
Anne Peck, Print Producer
David Eades, Print Producer
Noel Fenn, Art Director
Andrew Caie, Copywriter
Dustin Rideout, Planner
Lisa Greenberg, SVP Creative Director

Section I — BASIC INFORMATION

Business Results Period (Consecutive Months):	June 29 – June 30, 2012 (Moving Day Weekend)
Start of Advertising/Communication Effort:	June 27, 2012
Base Period as a Benchmark:	July 2 – 3, 2011 (Moving Day Weekend)

Section II — SITUATION ANALYSIS
a) Overall Assessment

Planning for an even better “move.”

Every July 1st weekend a cultural phenomenom happens. The people of Montreal move all at once. They call it Moving Day and it leads to all kinds of chaos. Despite the chaos, IKEA, like any retailer, is still under presure to make an impact and increase traffic and sales during this time.

In 2011 we tapped into Moving Day, offering utility in people’s time of need by providing free and helpful moving boxes, and saw a 24% increase in sales. We had successfully made a trip to IKEA a part of the Moving Day process for thousands of Montrealers. Our challenge for 2012 was to repeat that success and drive even more traffic and sales during Moving Day Weekend.

b) Resulting Business Objectives

Could we repeat a smash success?

Before stating the business objectives for Moving Day 2012, it is important to put the 2011 results in perspective. The 24% increase in sales was the equivalent of IKEA adding an entire store’s worth of sales to their Canadian operations for the weekend. Dauntingly, the objective was to repeat the sales results from 2011 with an ambitious stretch goal for even more sales and visitors vs. 2011.

Business Objectives:

Increase visitors by 2% vs. the Moving Day 2011 Weekend.
Increase sales by 3% vs. the Moving Day 2011 Weekend.

And we had to achieve these objectives with a budget that was 42% less than the 2011 budget.

c) Annual Media Budget
$100,000 – $200,000

d) Geographic Area
Montreal

Section III — STRATEGIC THINKING
a) Analysis and Insight

Sequels to success come with high expectations.

Our runaway success in 2011 created all the conditions for a Sequel Letdown. We know from movies, books and new products that after a big success, expectations are high for the follow-up.

To avoid being a Hangover 2 and disappointing both Montrealers and our clients at IKEA we knew we needed to bring back the act of giving Montrealers free boxes in an even bigger and better way.

Our two big insights for Moving Day 2012 came from observing the behaviour of our target, Anxious Urbanites, during the realities of Moving Day in Montreal.

The first insight was uncovered by analyzing social media activity from 2011. We discovered that the people of Montreal don’t just move together, they also commiserate together, with Twitter and Facebook being the puplits of choice to share all the chaos and frustration of Moving Day.

The second insight is that when people are in the process of preparing for a move, they are often housebound. They are packing or waiting for friends, movers and service people to come to their homes. Not everyone has the time or opportunity to find and go to IKEA box distribution sites.

These two insights led us to the conclusion that our sequel could live up to expectations if we could harness social media to bring help directly to the people of Montreal.

b) Communication Strategy

A positively “social” Moving Day.

In 2011, the stressed out people of Montreal had to stumble upon our box displays around the city to get help on Moving Day weekend. In other words, they had to come to us.

Our strategy for 2012 was for us to come to them. And we did this by making our boxes mobile, by making them easy to follow and by even making them easy to order.

To activate this idea we turned a regular, old truck into an iconic IKEA furntiture box. Our truck drove the streets of Montreal, delivering needed supplies to thousands of Montrealers as they organized their move.

To make it easy for Montrealers to locate, we outfitted the truck with a GPS. Using social channels, we spread the word about the truck and set up a webpage that mapped the scheduled stops and exact location of the truck in real time. All people had to do to request a drop off was send a tweet to #IKEAMovingBox, or flag it down as it passed through their neighbourhoods.

Section IV — KEY EXECUTIONAL ELEMENTS
a)Media Used

Being a part of the “move.”

We used the following combination of traditional, ambient and social media to communicate our Moving Day 2012 Brand Act to the people of Montreal:

An IKEA Branded Moving Box Truck
A Twitter Hashtag and Feed
Wild Postings
Radio Sponsorship

b)Creative Discussion

Big help comes in big boxes.

The attached files (IKEA 2012 Moving Day Boxes & IKEA 2012 Moving Day Truck) provide a snapshot of our Moving Day Truck and Boxes. Both capture the essence of the simple and smart IKEA brand and visually they represent the boxes that IKEA products come in.

But we just didn’t provide boxes. We also provided ideas and inspiration. Printed on the boxes were helpful moving tips, an organized labelling system, a coupon for a discount at IKEA and even a coupon for dinner at the IKEA restaurant – because who has food in their fridge when they move into a new place?

c)Media Discussion

Small but powerful media to move by.

With a very limited media budget (less than $100K), we used a combination of high profile OOH locations and a radio sponsorship to get the word out about the IKEA Moving Boxes and Truck, creating the momentum we needed for our Twitter feed.

The Radio Sponsorship involved IKEA bringing listeners commercial free music during Moving Day Weekend on one of Montreal’s top stations. This made packing and moving better for the many people and it also provided a means to let people know about our boxes, truck and twitter feed.

OOH postings in key locations allowed people to take-away free boxes, while street teams manning the stations let people know how they could get more boxes from the mobile IKEA Moving Day Truck.

Section V — BUSINESS RESULTS
a) Sales/Share Results

IKEA registers a “Box” office hit.

Our Moving Day sequel didn’t fall flat like the second installments of The Hangover, Ghostbusters or Caddyshack. Instead it was our version of The Empire Strikes Back – beating all the expectations of an enthralled fan base.

With a smaller budget than 2011, we delivered (literally). We not only matched the awe-inspiring sales of 2011, we smashed the very ambitious business objectives:

GOAL – Increase visitors by 2% vs. Moving Day 2011 Weekend.

RESULT – We increased visitors by 5.2%

GOAL – Increase sales by 3% vs. Moving Day 2011 Weekend

RESULT – We increased sales by 9%

b) Consumption/ Usage Results

c) Other Pertinent Results

d) Return on Investment

Section VI — CAUSE & EFFECT BETWEEN ADVERTISING AND RESULTS
a)General Discussion

Big brand purpose ideas have the power to sustain.

IKEA Moving Day 2012 demonstrated the power of a strong idea guided by the brand’s purpose – to make everyday better for the many people. Despite a decrease in spend on the program, we were able to generate more sales and visitors than the previous year that had tremendous success in it’s own right.

b)Excluding Other Factors
Spending Levels:

Doing more with less.

Spending levels for the 2012 IKEA Moving Day Campaign were actually 42% lower than spendnig on the 2011 Moving Day Campaign.

There was no increase in spend or activity in IKEA 52 week advertising efforts vs. the previous year.

Pricing:

The campaign sequel wasn’t more of the same, but the offers were.

Moving Day 2012 Weekend Offers were similar in product and price vs. the previous year.

Distribution Changes:

The idea was to distribute more.

More IKEA Moving Day boxes were distributed in 2012 with the addition of the mobile truck. This was a direct result of the creative idea and advertising effort.

Unusual Promotional Activity:

N/A

Other Potential Causes:

N/A