Ikea communication strategy: main insights

Before going into the development of the strategy itself, we should understand brand positioning. 

The simplest is to imagine a simple matrix with two axes: price and design. It is not difficult to know which quadrant would IKEA be, right? Logically, it would be low or very low in price but quite high in terms of design. 

However, staying in this is something simplistic. In order to understand the IKEA communication strategy we need to know to what extent they have been able to transfer their values through it. 

It is not a secret that in this enterprise there is a book of style written by its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, who sums up his vision of what the company and brand must be. As in all founding manifesto, there is a sentence that summarizes everything:"Create an every day better for as many people as possible" to what being a little practical we would add the tagline: "and make money". 

What does improve every day imply? Let's see some of the most representative values. 

This is one of the key values of the brand. Partly by conviction (any better way to help many people by improving the environment of all?) but also because it is one of the things that matter to users. 

The concern for the environment is one of those aspects that are associated with the Scandinavian and do not forget that IKEA males a show of their Swedish origin. 

In any case, this value was precisely boosted as a result of some problems that arose in Germany in the manufacturing process and materials used in the manufacture of some of their furniture.

IKEA is one of the few virtually transversal brands that can be found. Almost all of the Western world has an item of this brand at home. 

It makes much sense for communication and marketing people working with multiple segmentations and who want to be integrating with any collective and way of thinking or acting. If you want to reach many people, as their internal code says, you should avoid anyone to feel excluded. 

It is one of the topics that more and better have been talked in their campaigns. It has also a reflection in their stores and even in their catalogues.  IKEA has broken stereotypes of classic families without leaving them aside, but they have incorporated other models and lifestyles to their communication so that no one is left out for his beliefs,lifestyle or physical appearance (its models are very heterogeneous and not necessarily canonical). 

This turn is curious, given that Kamprad was directly linked to Nazi groups in his youth (he never hid it and he even asked for forgiveness on more than one occasion saying that it was "the worst mistake of his life"). 

By the way, it is important to emphasize that this concept is very important for IKEA. In fact, since the very beginning in retail in that big store away from urban centers, they wanted customers to turn going shopping into one experience more than the satisfaction of a need. 

The fact to include in-store spaces and such revolutionary services as restaurants, grocery stores and supervised and free kindergartens where children can stay happy. 

This is such an important concept inside their universe that the member card of their loyalty program is so called ("Family") in a double game with your own family and joining the IKEA family. 

At this point I do not think there is anyone on this side of the world who can separate IKEA from Sweden and vice versa. 

It is remarkable how a brand can become an asset of a country. This connection is not by chance, IKEA gets to reinforce their values with those Sweden projects socially, one of the most advanced societies in terms of ecological and civic consciousness. It also has another plus that is much directly linked with the design. It is one of the nations driving a very strong trend: Scandinavian design that can be found, without a doubt, in IKEA furniture. 

Aspirationally, we all want to be a bit Swedish, but of course, every market has its needs and items that do not work depending on the countries. That is why IKEA works on each catalogue in a personalized way and does not offer the same range in Germany than in Spain or the United States. To a certain extent, they adapt the product to fit the message. 

In fact, this giant manages a huge advertising investment. This makes they work on many different channels, but the most interesting thing is to see how they often search for a true multi-channel in their actions.
 

Very celebrated and awarded campaigns such as"Welcome to the independent Republic of your house", "Tidy up" or "All homes are created equal", all are different, with approaches ranging from empowering home, prank, or inclusion, but in all there is a consistency in the message that jumps from one channel to another and in many cases is complemented. 

Let's not forget that the company was established in the first half of the last century. So, we should already be able to understand the importance that press had on their first days.

We will add a question of business model. IKEA was initially a catalogue sales. It was key because it was their sales channel, but they have been able to turn it into an intergenerational phenomenon that has endured the passage of time and stay solid. 

IKEA catalogue has managed to become a small social event. It is difficult to get away from it and, at the same time, is one of those basic objects in any home. 

It has always been one of its strongest channels, where it has shone most. In this case, media has a lot of message, television is something directly linked to home. Ingvar Kamprad was obsessed by the "appliance" itself. He even bought a factory to get its line of TVs (which was a failure, by the way). 

The channel itself has been witness to some of these campaigns that have marked a before and an after. They that end up being a summary of these values already widely commented on this blog and always with a certain point of transgression. 

There are pieces that work perfectly at a global level, but also have managed to adapt to the addressed markets (at the end, they are more than 30 countries). 

In Spain, for example, IKEA knew how to win the heart of the audience with campaigns as "where one fits, two fits" with the singer Coke Maya or, maybe the most remembered, Independent Republic of your home. 

This company is not close to anything, from events in their stores to the guerrilla marketing that they do not like completely. Any formula that serves to articulate its communication strategy is explored. 

Obviously you may have noticed that I have overlooked the digital channel. The truth is that it gives so much that I am going to talk about it on a new post that I hope you find it as interesting as these two.