Ikea plays up 'more' in mega store's opening

Developed by Saatchi & Saatchi Beijing, the campaign focuses mainly on print and outdoor channels as a way of heightening awareness around the store's opening, scheduled on April 12. Saatchis Beijing chief executive officer Charles Sampson said because the Ikea brand is already well known in China through its seven-year-old operation in Beijing, the new campaign had to focus on communicating the element of 'more' to consumers. "Beijing in particular has a very strong relationship with the Ikea brand," he said. "It fits very well with the mentality and attitude to life of Beijing people, which is relax, enjoy life and be down-to-earth, and Ikea is all those things." The new store will weigh in at around three times the size of the previous outlet. Accordingly, the new push revolves around the theme of 'more to love' in all the creative executions. Some of the print work shows two hearts in the Ikea colours of blue and yellow. The top part features information eschewing the new store's improved aspects, including its increased size, a 700-seat restaurant, 77 model rooms and 2000 new products. The bottom heart meanwhile, contains an invitation to a traditional breakfast and opening ceremony. "We're not doing TV, just billboards and newspapers," said Sampson. "We've done a few store openings now, and we find that outdoor and print are generally good mediums to reach consumers, because of their coverage," he said. Targeted at working women aged between 25 and 35, the campaign also seeks to inform consumers about the location change of Ikea. "One of the issues is (that) it is quite a long way away from the old store, so we need to make sure that we carry all the core customers over to the new store," said Sampson. The launch campaign will run through the month of April, with MEC handling media planning and buying.