2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Swedish meatballs are one of the most famous IKEA product and Swedish dish. Knowing that they are not Swedish generated millions of conversations all over the world. Easy for us to take advantage of this conversation and even if we replied 3 years later to the previous tweet, we were able to re-activate conversations all around the world.

Background

In 2018, Sweden’s Official Twitter Account revealed a fact that took everyone by surprise: meatballs, their national dish, were not Swedish. IKEA, globally recognized for its Swedish meatballs, remained silent all the time…until now. 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)

We launched our new plant-based meatballs 100% Swedish. Developed by IKEA and a Swedish chef named Alexander Magnusson. And you know what? They taste and look the same as the normal meatballs. To communicate this launch, we answered their 2018 tweet… And they replied by celebrating with us that their national dish was 100% Swedish: “Excellent!!” Something that generated the buzz we needed for our new product launch. “SWEDISH MEATBALLS HAVE NEVER BEEN SWEDISH. UNTIL NOW.”

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

IKEA is a brand always keeping part of topical conversation. The shocking reveal that Swedish meatballs - brought to fame by IKEA - were not actually Swedish, was a perfect opportunity to gain people attention once again, and also to launch our new meatballs, now 100% made in Sweden. So we called a popular chef to re-think the recipe, making it 100% Swedish and 100% sustainable. And we replied to the official Swedish Twitter account, who replied back.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The video was shared in press release, but the tweet and the reply of the official Swedish account helped a lot the project to earn media.

List the results (30% of vote)

Everybody now knows that Swedish meatballs are Swedish, once and forever. Moreover, the sales of the new plant base meatballs exceeded the sales of the meat base ones of 5% during the first month. It arrived in 23 countries from all around the world, with an organic Tweet.