Ikea Bags Customers with a Frakta Statue

Ikea has a brand-new bag!

Everyone knows its Frakta bag – and now Ikea plans to build 19-foot statues of its iconic Frakta bag in New York, Chicago and Houston which link to an Augmented Reality experience as a part of a national tour, in a bid to double down on its US presence. These statues are an extension of the brand’s platform, “The Giving Bag,” launched earlier this year

Originally the plan was to debut the sculpture in New York on the 10th of June but because of the ongoing air pollution issues, Ikea will unveil on near Chicago’s Millennium Park on June 17-18 and in Houston on June 24-25 before returning to New York once outdoor conditions get better.

The 19-foot statue of Ikea’s iconic Frakta bag is meant to encourage consumers to think about all the decorating solutions they can find in that familiar, crinkly-blue tote. It will have QR codes on it, which when scanned by people, will unlock augmented reality experiences that will give out exclusive offers to customers.

This augmented reality experience is a first for a retailer, Ikea says, and it creates this augmented reality experience using Adobe’s geo-location technology. Those who scan the QR code will have coupons with discounts ranging from $25 off a $150 purchase to $75 off a $250 purchase that they can redeem at their nearest Ikea store. When people scan the QR code, AR animations of iconic Ikea products will also start to fly out of the bag.

This links back to Ikea’s campaign platform, The Giving Bag, that was launched in March. Those ads use the Frakta bag to help a little boy make a difficult move. It was also built as a metaphor for their campaign tagline: “Affordable design. Endless possibilities"

Many brands use the word “iconic” but the fact remains that the Ikea bag truly is recognizable. Frakta means 'transport’ in Swedish and the luxury brand Balenciaga reimagined Ikea’s 99-cent tote into a $2,145 bag in 2017. The color of the bag is very recognizable and iconic as well.

Ikea hopes that people will see the fun and the unexpected aspect of this exercise and take pictures of this huge bag and make it viral, like the LL Bean Boot Mobile or Oscar Mayer’s Frankmobile.

Ikea also plans to play an outsized role in Ikea’s back-to-college events this summer.

The Ikea bag is iconic. Just about everyone has one or has at least seen one. To take something like that, which everyone can identify with, and use it as the focal point of a campaign, is great strategy.

A time-bound construct like this creates a lot of buzz, positive energy. And you can just see folks take pictures posing next to it, and posting that on Social media – which is exactly what Ikea hopes for. It is fun! And Quirky! And can be the center of a family-moment!

And Ikea adds the QR codes which offer novel, immersive experiences to customers. Summer is the perfect time for something like this – everyone is out enjoying the great weather and here is something for the whole family – young and old. Ikea is just one among several brands (Remy Martin and Shake Shack come to mind) trying to connect with people outdoors with immersive QR Code-related experiences.

The whole construct gently reminds consumers about just how much Ikea can bring to their lives – when a customer scans the QR code, it sets off an Augmented Reality animation that will show him or her, a whole bunch of products flying out of the bag.

And then there are the irresistible offers – Ikea has used Adobe’s new Aero Geospatial software, which by using geo-location technology, will present relevant offers to customers, based on their actual locations.

If that doesn’t draw the customer to a store to redeem these offers, little else would! This is a great way for Ikea to bring more people into its stores or website – an execution or construct that will draw new customers in through its very sharp omni-channel retail strategy.

The immersive AR activation will appeal to anyone – from the baby boomers onwards right up to Gen Z. And just about no one can resist a nice juicy offer – of which Ikea has plenty!

All in all, the magic is in the bag! And Ikea is surely poised to bag a whole bunch of customers before this statue tour comes to an end!