From 10 to 24 March 2010, IKEA develops an interesting event in four important metro stations in Paris. Furniture collections are currently displayed in high-traffic spots, giving the potential customers a chance to interact with the brand by checking out the products. The subway walls are also filled with prints that showcase IKEA interiors. What a creative way to do advertising! Moreover, this action completely changes the way the Paris subway station look and creates a cool atmosphere. Imagine waiting for the train n a comfortable sofa! We are certain this is the sort of event that French people will talk of for years to come. What do you think of this idea?
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Great interaction with the brand in a usually stressful situation, waiting for public transportation. IKEA took advantage of a captive audience that will think twice about them the next time, great job. Again.
Great idea….Until some homeless person urinates on it.
Genius idea. Great way to do promotion (the subway will be very comfy doing that period) and maybe it will help someone to find and decide to get the dream and perfect sofa.
You’re all getting little french bedbugs.
Great idea. The cost of the furniture is probably less than anything else that would get the same exposure. Ikea has good stuff. Bought my first pieces in Germany in the mid 80′s and they’re still in great shape in 2010 after moving Ger-CA-CA-IL-WA-WA!
one of the best optimiziation of exposure I’ve ever seen
Bravo! Good pictures!
a nice way to promote something and at the same time can help homeless poeple
Great idea
Love the tags, I will know exactly what I am sitting on and hopefully get a coupon for some of those yummy meatballs ? That would get me to the store. A concern would be keeping the furniture looking great, if the furniture held up, as a follow up campaign IKEA furniture can stand up to the Subway and still look fantastic… Just a thought.
If they were to do this here in Amsterdam in the subway the furniture would be demolished within the hour. The French public has obviously a high moral standard, they leave other peoples belongings in good shape.
I love the idea, you get to try out the furniture and all, and it seems all nice and well until u realize, as soon as the homeless ppl find out about this, its gonna be all down hill from there!!
I love Idea’s creativity recently. The idea to post their new catalogue on Facebook and give away any item that was tagged by a facebook member was a genius way of spreading their brand. Something I have talked about before on my blog.
This also is another out the box innovation. Ikea’s marketing team should be proud of themselves!
They have done subways before in Japan: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kiyomaro702/41308960.html
=)
Didn’t B&Q do this first?
Nice idea, I would just love to see similar things here in Melbourne.
DUde, Ikea is totally amazing. I mean like seriously.
Jess
http://www.big-brother-watching.net.tc
Id’ like to see the condition of the furniture in about a month. Very expensive advertising for sure. It won’t be long before it all turns into an ad for how poorly the furniture stands up to everyday use.
It’s like totally nice for the first day or two.
This is so not creative! It’s steeling our public space to make a showcase without asking anybody. Indeed of speending too much money in ad IKEA, pay yours employees!
Great idea. I like it.
“It’s steeling(sic) our public space to make a showcase without asking anybody.”
That is an assumption and one that I suspect is incorrect. I would think that Ikea paid a good bit for the use of that space. I doubt very seriously that any government entity would allow a company to jump in and put such items there without paying for the right.
Tom
They need this for NYC. It would be nice to sit down on something comfortable, instead of those wooden benches.
Have any of you ever been to Paris?
Considering the paris subway is one of the most piss filled places in the world I think this idea is very unhigenic.
actually it is a very bad idea. Those sofa are big big fire load. A little fire risk on concourse is deadly. I dunno why it is approved in first place. Notice that the furniture in station are all incombustible. Things look that way for reasons!
I am casting my vote for genius promotion idea. I expect we’ll see IKEA and others try to replicate this idea with transit systems and other similar settings.
Get ad. It really livens up the place. I love the pic of the guy shot between the two subway cars. If it was a closeup of this face you would have no idea he was in the subway because of all the books behind him.
though it is a nice way of promoting ikea when somebody buys a sofa from ikea and puts in the living room guests entering your home will say ohh this is the same sofa from the subway it might become too cheap in terms for the buyer if they receive such a comment
I plan on taking a dump on the Blue one
Amazing idea, great pictures…
It’s so cool!
Nice, wonder how long it lasts in the subs…
I love the idea. I see a future with comfortable Waiting Spaces powered by IKEA
wait until they’re stolen or smell like pee-bum!
Eww. Those sofas will smell terrible in no time flat. In the meantime, the homeless will have a comfortable place to sleep. IKEA gets creativity points, but unfortunately, the Paris metro is one of the smelliest places on earth!
My vote is that this is tres cool! anyway that you can get public interacting with your brand is a good thing.
For those naysayers about fire hazard, this is no more dangerous than any other public space (airport, train station etc). There are fire retardant sprays. I’m sure IKEA is more worried about the liability in this aspect than you and all due diligent has been done.
About the comment about how the furniture will last in a month… who knows how long this special installation is for. Perhaps only 2 weeks? Again, I’m sure IKEA doesn’t want this to turn into a negative campaign about its quality. It is also possible that IKEA made a special batch of commercial grade sofas just for this publicity stunt.
Well, it is a really cool idea…. but not exactly new for IKEA. They did a similar thing two years ago in Kobe, Japan…. except they redecorated the actual interior of the trains, not just the station! http://pinktentacle.com/2008/04/ikea-decks-out-kobe-train/
Ingenious, what clever hands-on advertising!
See also the Homebase stunt at Carlisle station: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szo1VwqPdhY
C’est extra… Mais ça va être dégradé en moins de temps qu’il ne faut pour l’écrire, je parie…
Genius marketing
great IDEA
Awesome idea! Wish I was in Paris to experience this.
I love this! What a unique idea and place to advertise!
I’m sure people will talk of this for years to come!
They have to do something creative to sell the crap they make! It’s not built to last more than 10 years or so.
genius !
Making off : http://fon.gs/pubik/
Has anyone ever heard of BED BUGS??? THIS IS THE WORST IDEA EVER! Madrid, London, and New York are teeming with these little critters and they love to hide in places like couches! Commuters beware!
This looks a lot like the Homebase ad campaign here in the UK.
Not sure which came first…
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szo1VwqPdhY
great advertising campaign for ikea, and good action for people who want to buy , and i have the same idea,watch out for the homeless people, they could take advantage of it
haha
I think it is a great stunt. A good example of how advertisment and the human habitat can get involved with each other.
It’s advertisment in 3D.
Still, only as a stunt, a one-time-thing.
Cause the sofa’s can sit very well, it is not making people more creative. It’s making them even more suf.
Brilliant idea, furniture shopping while waiting for the metro.
This is a very great idea. But it could not be applied in densely populated areas like china an india.. I feel funny thinking in that way….
This is a very great idea. But it could not be applied in densely populated areas like china an india.. I feel funny thinking in that way….
Anil
didn’t like it. some comments already mentioned the reasons: fire risk, lack of space, downgrade of the brand. and i love ikea design, but it does not match the style of the Paris metro stations, at all.
no, no, no.
Most amazing .Reaching out to the consumer in his environment and making an impact in the place where you would be least expected to be seen.
Comfortable furniture at a railway station.The unexpected always makes a bigger impact
Living in Paris, I tested it twice ! very creative … and confortable
That’s so cool! Although it would never work here in Los Angeles. All that beautiful furniture would probably be destroyed over night. Haha.
I was recommended to your blog by a close associate of mine and wondered what the buzz was all about.. now I know why she was so very excited about it. thakn heaven I found your site at the theright time. You certainly rock and same is the case with your blog too. I enjoy reading every post of yours and sometimes, a confession here, might end up reading it often.
Wow this is great! I would love to visit Paris someday. This is a great idea!
wow! your photos are so nice..the furniture and decor ideas are brilliant….i love the flower slip cover!
very creative and comfortable… hope this idea applied in my country…
Doing this in Africa would be a bad idea. But then again we don’t have IKEA! Sadness….
Great ideas and great pics, thanks for sharing. I just posted them on my Facebook page “una pubblicità al giorno” (“and ad a day”). Please feel free to join in for daily updates on advertising creativity, as well as exchange of opinions about the topic.
Here is the link to the page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Una-PUBBLICITA-AL-GIORNO/377363578141