Title	BUS STOPS BECOME BUS SHOPS
Brand	IKEA
Product/Service	RETAIL
Category	B03. Use of Print / Outdoor
Entrant	DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Idea Creation	DDB BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Media Placement	CLEAR CHANNEL Vilvoorde, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Dieter De Ridder	DDB	Creative Director
Jan Schoofs	DDB	Creative
Jonas Caluwé	DDB	Creative
Francis Lippens	Account Management	Account Management
Annelies Nyns	DDB	Account Management
Maria-Laura Laubenthal	DDB	Account Management
Dominique Poncin	DDB	Strategy
Jorian Vanvossel	DDB	Strategy

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Because we made creative use of a standard, traditional outdoor medium (a bus stop) and turned it into something new: tiny, iconic, blue IKEA stores that were highly visible and communicated the brand’s message in a way that gathered a lot of attention from passersby. This campaign fits the description of the B03 category, Outdoor Channels, which “includes bus shelters and transit advertising using standard advertising space”.

Background

IKEA was very late to launch a web shop with home delivery in Belgium. So when they finally did this year, they wanted to create a lot of visibility around it, amongst others via a creative outdoor campaign. The main target was to create awareness around the web shop. The main message: you can finally shop at IKEA from literally anywhere.

Describe the creative idea/insights

IKEA launched a web shop in Belgium. And thanks to that web shop, you can now buy at IKEA from literally anywhere. Even in bus stops, for example. That’s why we turned bus stops into bus ‘shops’: tiny, iconic blue IKEA stores that looked exactly like the big retail stores. The copy on the bus shops said “Even here you can now shop at IKEA. Buy your stuff online at IKEA.be”. Thus inviting people to visit the web shop while waiting for their bus.

Describe the strategy

Since we wanted to create awareness amongst all age and social groups, we made use of an outdoor medium that, if used in a new creative way, is sure to catch attention from everyone in the streets: bus stops. In the biggest cities of the country, we looked for the busiest bus stops: on the main square in Antwerp for example, near central train stations and on busy crossroads. Then, together with IKEA’s designers, we redecorated them.

Describe the execution

In 5 major Belgian cities, we turned the busiest bus stops into bus shops: near train stations, on big squares etc. Locations where a lot of people passed by and we were sure to catch a lot of attention. Our bus shops were designed like real IKEA stores: they featured the exact same blue, iconic paneling and the exact same big logo. They even got their own names too. In the bus shops, the copy invited people to visit the web shop: “Even here you can now shop at IKEA. Buy your stuff online at IKEA.be”

List the results

These 5 special built bus shelters were the hero pieces of a larger outdoor campaign to promote IKEA Belgium’s new web shop, which generated some excellent results. Visits to the web shop increased by 23%, sales by 63%. Put in real figures, we generated an extra €555.000 in sales compared to the previous month.