Ikea launch in India - A proposed PR Strategy

IKEA LAUNCH PR STRATEGY

By: Dhruv Malik, Indian Institute of Mass Communication

(Advertising & Public Relations)

Major players in the furniture market in India:

            1. Godrej Interio furniture2. USHA Lexus furniture3. Millennium Lifestyle4. Fetherlite furnishings5. Zuari furniture6. Durian furniture7. Damro furniture8. WIPRO furniture9. Nilkamal furniture10 Dynasty Furniture11. EVOK12. Pepperfry furniture is the digital competition.

IKEA an Awesomely Crazy Brand- A few things done by them in the past

•The 2015 catalog experience-The parody on the launch of iPhone 6

•The IKEA time travel experiments

•The Instagram catalog website

•The social media catalog campaign

•IKEA klippbok – an iPad scrap book

•The 2013 Interactive application catalogue

•Ikea's biggest banner advertisement

•Multi-vie interactive kitchen stories

•The Facebook fan sleep over

•Catch the Swedish light campaign

•The world most liked showroom campaign

•Happy to bed- The YouTube social experience

•Ikea's 365 commercial campaign

•“Cheers” social celebration application

THE IKEA "MEINE KIYA" LAUNCH:

•The campaign resonates with the philosophy of the brand-ready to assemble furniture

•Former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne had criticized IKEA for not depicting women assembling furniture in its instruction booklets

•A marketing opportunity was seen in this

•What if ikea is promoted a brand depicting women empowerment?

•Rational for this:

q India is at it’s boiling point when it comes to women empowerment

q Breaking the cliché of furniture assembly being a man’s job

q Women are the influencers and purchasers when it come to furniture

q They would prefer a brand that supports the cause of women            empowerment

q During the course of the strategy women will act as brand advocates for IKEA

q India being a majorly lazy country, the #ikea-meinekiya campaign will help the           consumers understand what the process of ready to assemble furniture is    

q After the launch the strategy will be promoted for every body not only women in particular with the same connotation "ikea meine kiya" 

•Subsequently if this campaign was taken forward with the same connotation it can actually help it major stakeholders that is local suppliers -  Self-Help groups for local supplying can be formed and "ikea meine kiya" can be taken forward

•The guarantee by these SHGs of "meine kiya" is taken taken forward to prove the superior quality of ikea furniture