Every autumn, the new IKEA catalogue comes out. To get people to think and talk about this year's launch, our campaign for once didn't focus on the content, but on the catalogue itself. We called it the world's most widely published book, based on its print run which by now exceeds that of the bible. And we got Germany's most popular and influential literary critic, Hellmuth Karasek, to deliver the first serious review of this important piece of popular literature. His critical analysis may be the first occasion where Goethe, Freud and IKEA side tables are mentioned in short succession.
To maximize its PR potential, we invited a number of Swiss journalists to a press conference, giving them a first look at film. Once the journalists published it on their websites, more and more newspapers and users paid attention and shared it themselves. Within 48 hours it was broadcast by over 100 online newspapers and TV stations worldwide, including leading publications like Time Magazine and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In the first week, it reached approximately 230 Million people, became a trending topic on twitter and received free exposure equalling media spendings of 10.5 Million Dollars.
The Brief
The goal was to create media attention, anticipation and awareness of just how iconic and different the catalogue - and by extension IKEA - is from all its competitors.
Execution
One week before the catalogue launch, we organized a press conference where we premiered Hellmuth Karasek's review as a 5-minute film. As a result, we got a number of Swiss journalists to publish the story and the film online. From there it spread rapidly. Within 48 hours it was broadcast by over 100 online newspapers and tv stations worldwide, including every leading publication in the German speaking world like Spiegel, Stern, Welt and FAZ. Countries all over Europe followed and later even US media like Time Magazine featured the campaign, creating unprecedented awareness and anticipation for the catalogue launch.
Karasek's review was broadcast by over 100 online newspapers and TV stations worldwide, including many leading publications in Europe and the US. Around 25 million people watched the embedded video and it quickly became a trending topic on twitter. In the social media, more than 12.000 interactions were recognized. Ultimately, our message reached 230 million people and the whole campaign gained free media exposure equalling spendings of approximately 10 Million Dollars.
The Strategy
We got both media and consumers to look at the IKEA catalogue in new light by declaring it the world's most read book. We conveyed this in an unexpected and fun way, by getting the doyen of Germany's literary critics, 81-year old Hellmuth Karasek to give a tongue in cheek but completely authentic and quite critical review.