Ikea kickstarts 'sleeping revolution'

The drive aims to increase awareness of Ikea bedroom products, which tend to have lower profile than its storage units, cupboard and lighting items. The Rmb six million  (US$810,000) campaign, which sees MEC tasked with media, is proceeding through three stages: attention; debate and discussion; and convince and action.

The attention stage includes circulating an online video of the facial expressions of animals and people sleeping. The videos are being distributed on YouTube and i-Focus, supported by banners on property and decoration sites such as soufun.com and liba.com.

The debate and discussion stage features three versions of a five-second TVC of people yawning, together with questions like ‘Do you need lots of money to buy a good sleep?’ and ‘Is a hard mattress really good for your back?’.

Questions will also be posted online, aimed at the campaign’s primary target audience - 24 - to 45-year-old working mothers.

Phase three, which will take place next month, will revolve around sales promotion, plugging Ikea products such as beds, pillows and bedroom accessories.

The overall campaign includes TV, outdoor, online and viral TVCs, in-store displays and print work.
Ikea has also introduced in-store ‘comfort studios’ in its four cities in China, to provide consumers with real examples of sleeping solutions.

“We want to adopt the Ikea  brand tone and voice - which is fun, lighthearted, playful - and still get a serious message across,” said Saatchis chief executive officer Charles Sampson.

“We are opening a new chapter of Ikea marketing in China, focusing on the theme of sleeping. The whole concept is for Ikea to be a solution-provider with its tailor-made bedroom service, so people have no need to feel sleepy during the daytime again, or fight a battle with insomnia.”