IKEA Turns Consumer Behavior into Viral Marketing

Author:

Cynthia Boris

Source:

Have you ever played hide-and-seek at IKEA? I have, though not intentionally. The stores are set up in these funky little mazes that make it very easy to lose a husband or a child while shopping, so it’s no wonder that people have taken to playing the game there on purpose. This week, the idea rose to new heights when a person in Australia set up a Facebook event announcing a “massive” game at their local store. Since then, almost 4,000 people have signed up and the news has gone viral.
 
Smart Company Australia quoted the local IKEA spokesperson as saying that they weren’t behind anything that might endanger shoppers, but they weren’t going to go so far as to ban the game.
 
And why should they? This is the kind of thing PR companies get paid big money to arrange and IKEA is getting it for free. But short of waiting for a public epiphany to happen related to your product, Smart Company says there’s a way to create this kind of event for yourself.
 
“People play hide-and-seek at IKEA anyway, and that’s why this is gaining attention. I think the idea here is to look at what people are doing in your business and try and create Facebook pages or similar campaigns from that.”
They give the example of ...