2023 Silver Brand Experience

Agency: RAPP

Client: IKEA

Entry Title: Colleagues to Competitors: Scoring Loyalty

Executive Summary

IKEA Family needed more members to swipe at the checkout: when shoppers scan their cards, the more value they get from membership perks, and the more they then go on to spend.

Strategy

The summer months are often quiet at IKEA, with sales falling. The retailer needed to get ahead of the game.

RAPP turned to those who know best: the store co-workers. They are a competitive bunch, often comparing their store’s IKEA Family share of sales rates. What if stores competed to see who could get the most customers swiping their membership card, to win prizes?

The campaign was supercharged with a major cultural moment: the Women's World Cup 2023.

Creativity

The IKEA Family Cup 2023 was born. Timed to synch with the World Cup, every co-worker competed in teams to beat a target number of card swipes.

Branded internally with a unique name, mascot and logo, each store team had an identity to rally around. From the Belfast Bunnies to the Wembley Wolves, every store knew the tournament’s purpose, importance and what was expected of them.

Former England striker Michael Owen kicked the five-week competition off with a special video message in weekly team meetings. Table-toppers told tactics, posters kept spirits high and the prospect of taking home the custom 3D-printed trophy—and bragging rights and vouchers for star players—kept eyes on the ball.

Progress was tracked, with nail-biting weekly reveals of store performance. Some got through, others were eliminated—but all 22 stores played as teams to reach their goal of getting more members swiping their cards in-store.

Results

Gateshead Goldies took the trophy, beating the store’s share of sales target by 18%, and more than 10,000 extra IKEA Family members swiped their cards compared to the prior period.

Overall, more than 200k additional IKEA Family swipes were made during the competition period: enough swiping shoppers to fill the Women’s World Cup Final stadium 2.5 times over.

The work delivered a 7% uplift in average share of sales across all stores: 44 days of extra store revenue in a month that normally sees sales and swipes slide. What’s more, co-workers feel appreciated, with 20 individuals awarded vouchers for their achievements during the competition.

The Team

RAPP - Al Mackie, CCO - Jason Cascarina, Deputy Executive Creative Director - Gabrielle Ludzker, CEO - Caroline Parkes, CSO - Hiten Bhatt, Head of Design - Ian Cochran, Creative - Jay Packham, Creative - Anthony McGinty, Creative - Oliver Easthope, Creative - Stephanie Bryan-Kinns, Senior Designer - Sam Weinhandl, Designer - Durrelle Gregory, Senior Designer - Chloe McMahon, Strategy Director - Jacob Lovewell, Senior Strategist - Chris Kilgariff, Group Account Director - Millie Andrews, Project Manager - Holly McGeorge, Senior Project Manager - Russ Groombridge, Director Experience Sciences - Hannah Thomason, Associate Data Analytics Director