Let's hear it for the IKEA community
In this day and age it sometimes feel like every
website, product, gadget is being communitised, that community is the marketing
bandwagon of our time.
Still, some attempts at making "community"
part of ones marketing strategy are arguably braver than others.
Interior design and home makeover are of course quite hot
topics these days, certainly on TV, but Ikea does have a certain ...
reputation.
In my experience, shopping there can be a bit of a nightmare, as I
believe many people who've gone shopping at Ikea Brent Cross in a car can
testify to (admittedly it's four years since my last ordeal there, but most
other Ikea stores I've been to have been a logistical challenge to shop at).
Besides, Ikea furniture can be a bit of a nuisance to put together.
Now, don't get me wrong, I think Ikea is a brilliant
idea, and it has saved me on many occasions, but my natural urge would be to do videos
of how insanely difficult simple things can be when shopping at Ikea (like the
bed it took us four Ikea-trips, with hours of queuing each time, to get all the
right parts to). It could make for great comedy I guess, but not sure about how
good marketing it would be.
In this video Larsson talks to Dagens Media about the
community, and Ikea Sweden's new marketing campaign on plurality (in Swedish),
and shares his ideas on how such a community enables users (his word) to show
who they are and what interests they have.
(Hmm... that almost sounds like it has the potential
to turn into a dating site - as in 'hi, I'm Jasper and have thing for black
leather', or 'I'm Ethel and I really like the solid look', could be fun
watching even for those who just think Swedish is a fun language - but perhaps
I'm being too cynical).
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