Everyone becomes the cover star of the Ikea catalog

The new publication of the Ikea catalog is an annual topic in late summer: On the one hand, the Swedish furniture manufacturer always manages to ring in the new business year with an entertaining and likeable campaign - on the other hand, the Ikea "book" (as the Ikea catalog may be called at the latest after last year's accolade by Helmut Karasek) has long since achieved cult status among consumers like hardly any other advertising brochure.

But with a total circulation of around 211 million copies worldwide, how is it possible to remain special for the individual? Together with Jeff, Ikea put this year's catalog title promise "Designed for you" into practice: For all nine Swiss furniture stores and the Ikea #openkitchen at the Street Food Festival in Zurich, the Zurich agency designed and installed an exact replica of the cover image for the third year in a row, which was equipped on site as a professional Ikea covershooting photo studio.

For two weeks, visitors were invited to join the table and have their picture taken by the photographer. The best photo could then be selected via tablet and faithfully reproduced on an Ikea catalog to take home. Anyone who wants to save their picture in digital form or share it via social media can also find it at Ikea.ch/covershooting for download. As a new feature, participants could also send their catalog photo to friends and relatives as an e-card on the spot via a touchscreen - or even print it out immediately as a postcard and send it free of charge throughout Switzerland by dropping it in the Ikea Covershooting mailbox.

Surveys after last year's Ikea Covershootings already showed the lasting success of the campaign: Since then, the Ikea catalog is not only kept again much more often, it even holds its prominent place on living room tables months longer than before.

In addition to the Ikea cover shoot, other themes related to the current Ikea campaign are currently being played out in the stores: for example, children and adults can learn interesting facts about sustainability and responsibility in fish farming at the magnetic fish fishing game "Catch the Fish" and can discover the delicious and healthy food for themselves right away at the daily salmon tasting.

Responsible at Ikea Switzerland: Mikael Pilblad (Marketing Manager Switzerland), Simon Wirth (External Communication Manager), Fabian von Rechenberg (Project Leader Campaign), Melanie Maessen (Commercial Activity Leader). Responsible at Jeff: Leonie Moeri (Project Lead), Marius Naegeli (Junior Project Manager), Joel Schuler (Digital Project Manager), Nicolas Jakob (Graphic Design). Other partners: Dimaster Software (programming).