2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Vacations in a Box was made on a shoestring budget with the purpose of showing people a way to have fun at home they might have never thought of. With a media spend of just $1,300 in the UAE, it was picked up by major news outlets internationally, including Forbes, GQ, Esquire and earned 20,395,650 impressions. On Twitter alone, our boxes earned more than 805,000,000 impressions mainly from the US, almost half a world away. The earned PR coverage was worth more than $241,500 with a media spend of just $1,300 in the UAE.

Background

COVID-19 lockdowns were tough on everyone, but we at IKEA wanted to help people see that house they’ve been stuck in for months in a whole new light. We’ve always championed multi-functional spaces, so as people moved their entire lives inside, we knew could show them how all those things they could no longer do out in the world could be done at home whether that was work, working out, virtual happy hours or even travelling. Vacations in a Box gave people a new way to experience IKEA’s products with curated collections of home décor inspired by the popular international travel destinations we could no longer travel to.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Vacations in a Box are curated boxes of home décor inspired by top international destinations and gave people the chance to get a little taste of travel right at home. They were filled with everything from the plates, throw pillows, to vases and light fixtures that came together to bring the aesthetic of popular international cities, right to your home. In addition to décor, each box included an instruction booklet with recipes, movie and music playlists along with things to do like origami or traditional dances. So, even when people couldn’t leave their houses, with a little imagination they could set up a Parisian bistro in their balcony, or outback BBQ in their backyard.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

To gain media attention, we tapped into what people were already talking about: being unable to travel. We then filtered this through the mindset of our market of travel-obsessed expats that make up over 85% of the UAE’s population. They love experiencing new cultures, trying new things and seeing the world and, for many, that’s exactly why they moved to UAE. So, while COVID made international travel impossible, we wanted to show how they could expand their world right at home. As the everyday news cycle was dominated by flight cancellations and passport restrictions our Vacations in a Box offered an easy solution to the unimaginable problems we were facing every day and some welcome positivity for news stations to cover.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

In the early days of the pandemic (March 2020) we began combing through IKEA website and worked with in-house interior designers to create our Vacations in a Box. By July 2020, we were able to put them in stores. To do this, we had to design and print unique boxes, pick the items for each and write the thorough instruction manual with recipes, movies, music and things to do. To launch it, we create limited-time set ups in-store showing exactly what you get in each box. Much like the normal bedroom or bathroom displays in IKEA, these demonstrated exactly how you could set up each Vacation in a Box to get that unique feeling of Paris or Tokyo right at home.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our Vacations in a Box were covered by major news outlets internationally, including Forbes, GQ, Esquire and earned 20,395,650 impressions. On Twitter alone, our boxes earned more than 805,000,000 impressions mainly from the US, almost half a world away. The earned PR coverage was worth more than $241,500 with a media spend of just $1,300 in the UAE. And as lockdowns eased, it was responsible for more than 2,000 unique visits to the store, all while people were still getting used to getting out of the house.