Cookmania made in Sweden

Furniture market In the shrinking kitchen furnishings market
Ikea gains shares. Unikat delivers the
Advertising recipe. Smörebröd is the order of the day: even before the
The former leader among furniture stores, Möbel Pfister, has come up with a "new"
name and appearance, Ikea presents itself as the clear number one.
one in the spotlight and determines the theme: With a multi-layered
and -channel campaign, which Unikat is
Head agency, the Swedish interior decorator wants to make his
range of kitchens in a difficult market, mainly because of
general contractors rather than by the end consumer, more strongly
position.

There has never been so much cooking
A glance at the newsstands, bookstores and TV stations throughout Europe is enough,
to recognize that the furniture store chain with its focus on the zeitgeist
hits the mark again. Ikea, which according to marketing manager Carlos Friedrich
their restaurants successfully as a marketing tool for traffic generation
(2005: 8.7 million store visits) must know that. Never before
as many cookbooks, cookery programs and magazines have been published as
today. And just as star chef Horst Petermann, "Räpzept" author
Ivo Adam or lightning chef Jamie Oliver as home story suppliers
the exchange of cooking tips is no longer just a matter of
female domain any more. "The love of cooking seems to have spread here too
unlimited," says Unikat co-owner and Managing Director Jan Maurer.

Thanks to the same dedication, his agency was able to develop the signal red
Cooking glove as a key visual for all advertising measures in the pitch
to prevail. "The cooking glove as an advertising platform not only offers a
association field, but in its shape and color it has a
stopper effect," explains agency co-owner and CD Daniel Meier.
And both components were in demand, because Ikea is setting up the
general cooking wave with large ladle: Catalog,
Promotional info folder, DVD with kitchen dreams, online software for the
CAD planning at home on the site set up especially for this purpose
Liebensiekochen.ch, advertisements, posters, POS materials and a witty
TV spot with teaser and daily changing promotional spots. The
The obligatory and PR-rich event is not missing. This alone will be held in
be on everyone's lips. This was ensured on two days by the Ikea kitchens, which were
the seven busiest railroad stations in Switzerland, the passers-by
cooked.

Using the fast-paced overnight assembly, the company immediately
two messages "life" under a pan lid: On the one hand
the events convey the high quality, the easily changeable design
of the kitchen equipment and the breadth of the range of cooking utensils.
On the other hand, the frequently modified kitchen fronts were designed with the
Rent a Handy Man" service offer. "New, but with the
known cost transparency, the customer can decide whether he wants to use
want to do it themselves or have the delivery, assembly and
installation to Ikea's professional craftsmen," explains Carlos
Friedrich.

But back to the TV commercial, which is also a success because of the downloadable
earworm soundtracks leaves a strong impression. In nine
different settings - from the boxing ring to the operating theater - love is
for cooking in a rather grotesque way with the red cooking glove
dramatized. In the process, the creatives used fake station logos and
other means gave all takes an authentic character.
  
 

Luca Aloisi