Ikea Store In Sweden Uses Facebook Photo Tags To Gain Publicity

by amyellensoden | November 25, 2009 at 10:23 am

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A new Ikea store in Malmo, Sweden has turned to Facebook for help in promoting the new store and gaining widespread publicity. Advertising agency Forsman and Bodenfors launched an online campaign for Ikea with a profile page for store manager Gordon Gustavsson, as well as a photo tagging giveaway.

Any Facebook friends of the Ikea page had the opportunity to tag themselves in photos in order to win free furniture. The first user to tag a specific product in a photo would receive that item for free. This use of Facebook photo tags generated a great deal of online publicity as the photos spread around the social networking site. The photo tags appeared not only on specific user profiles but also in the public news feed.

The campaign was run from Forsman and Bodenfors' Gothenburg office. Art director Adam Ulvegarde says that the idea of using Facebook along with the traditional store launch local media strategy was to reach an audience beyond just Malmo.

Ulvegarde said: "The Malmo store is the most modern store to date and we wanted everyone in Sweden to know about it, but with limited means."

Forsman and Bodenfors have been working with Ikea since 1996 but this is the first time that an online campaign has been launched. The decision to utilize Facebook as an online marketing tool was due to the lack of funding for the usual promotional outlets such as TV or radio ads.

Instead, photos of furniture in various Ikea showrooms in the Malmo store were uploaded to the Facebook page over a two week period. The photo tagging promotional giveaway took off like wildfire making the Malmo Ikea store widely popular in just a few weeks.