2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR?

For weeks, the world talked about Aliens and top secret Pentagon documents on UFOS. Media were covering it all over the world and people on social were speculating about it, generating tons of conversation. This project brought IKEA at the centre of the conversation and re-established it as a global, relevant, fun brand, able to make people and media talk about it as part of the culture. IKEA brand's value of inclusivity was brought to life with a funny and light-hearted tone. The Pentagon upcoming reveals were a perfect opportunity to gain media and attention, keeping the brand values core.

Background

At the beginning of JUNE 2021 social media went crazy for some leaked images, documents and videos about UFO sightings. The origin of these unexplainable objects has been swooping major attention from the global media press (from The New York Times, CNN, WSJ to Gulf news, and even NASA and other space agencies). Aliens maniacs, conspiracy fanatics, and the simple curious sparked millions of conversations. Our brief was a long lasting brief: make the brand at the centre of culture and media conversation, riding topics with IKEA usual tone of voice of funny, humble and light hearted. The main objective was increase brand awareness and affinity.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Are they already among us? Are Aliens coming? IKEA is the biggest furniture retailer of the planet earth. So, if they are coming, IKEA has to get ready for customers coming from another planet, in case they would like to build their dream home close to us. To do so, we turned the iconic IKEA assembly instructions into instructions for Aliens, changing the usual design and alphabet just to be Alien friendly. Just adding a few elements to the iconic design, it was possible to resonate instantly to a wide audience, both IKEA and Aliens lovers.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

IKEA assembly instructions are iconic and universal. So universal that even otherworldly beings can understand them. And who better than IKEA, the biggest furniture retailer on the planet, to get ready to welcome Aliens that could be moving to Earth? We showed how IKEA is inclusive and funny, able to be part of the conversation and the culture. We resonated with a large target audience: IKEA lovers who also happen to be ALIENS and UFO lovers that represent a large community on a global scale. We "translated" almost 100 instructions, distributing them both on social media but also in stores.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

We had to be fast so we crafted the iconographic universe of IKEA Aliens design and applied them quickly to each instructions. The first three were ready in a very short time - 2 days - and we sent the press release with the first instructions to many media outlets in order to not lose the moment and be left behind We sent our kit to magazines about design - like Print Mag and DesignBoom. We sent it to media that already talked about IKEA campaign as well as to the ones that covered the Pentagon reveal. This all took place just a few days after the news about the release of the report was announced, and the instructions were live for a couple of weeks, just until the day of the reveal. We reached also a huge active community of Aliens lovers on Reddit.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Aliens instructions reached a wide audience with a very small investment. It was covered by media beyond the region, like Paris Match in France, design magazine like Designboom and Taxi, Gizmodo in Japan, and they generate big global conversation on Reddit. They were shared hundreds time on social, generating a 100% positive sentiment from users, and some users also typed their comments in ‘alien language’. The campaign achieved a successful overall performance on the channels, with a very minimal media budget and a big organic part: Reach: over 5.5 Mil Traffic to website: +28% during the campaign Engagement: +38% compared to average IKEA posts ROI: 400%