2013 Silver Best use of Data in a Digital Campaign

Client IKEA

How did the campaign make a difference? Brits rarely spend time in their gardens, so IKEA inspired loyalty card holders to dine, wine or unwind alfresco. Customers got a weather forecast for their actual garden, delivered by an IKEA weatherman. The campaign delivered a blazing hot 34% increase in sales of outdoor products.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Delivering relevant communications to IKEA FAMILY members was critical to continue engagement and drive incremental visits to the store. This required a multi-layer data strategy. With the hottest months looming, it made sense to raise awareness that IKEA has an extensive outdoor range. How can you get people thinking about their gardens when the weather is so unpredictable? A clever use of data identified customers with gardens and created a series of personalised weather forecasts. The timely nature of IKEA DM, email and digital channels responded to weather changes and spurred customers into making more of their garden when sunshine was forecast. Rewarding members with offers based on their previous behaviour drove the greatest visitation. Key to this was an offers scoring model that incorporated previous spend, frequency and drivetime.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? The campaign identified members with gardens. Using digital printing, weather-responsive, personalised mailers were sent out featuring actual forecasts for each member's garden. An online planner was designed to raise awareness and inspired members to transform their garden. To get members thinking about creating the perfect summer haven for an alfresco get-together, the campaign helped to create a bespoke invite. Using Facebook, a live weather feed, Google Maps and IKEA's own weatherman Harry Caine, members sent friends a video invite for a garden event, such as a barbecue or a moonlit dinner. The invite was populated with personalised, dynamic content. What if it was more wetsuits than flip-flops weather? Harry suggested what you should wear and what IKEA products you could use to defend yourself from the typically typical British weather. So rain or shine, thanks to IKEA out in the garden was the 'in' place to be.

Results By harnessing the excitement that erupts in the UK when it gets a dose of sunshine, this inspired people to improve their gardens. The test matrix determined the accuracy of the garden propensity modelling, showing those without a garden having zero incremental spend and visits. The campaign tracked the social engagement of members by passing through the unique family ID IKEA matched back to the database. This allowed identification of more socially engaged members to enhance future targeting.