IKEA Play Cafe
IKEA has typically always existed within a suburban environment, they came to us curious to explore what a retail pilot could look like in an urban environment.
They knew it couldn’t just be to downsize a standard store, and briefed us to find the right concept to sell smarter but in a familiar IKEA way. We decided to play with our food and created an immersive pop-up store that was open for 12 days in a downtown location.
Shop. Eat. Play.
The simple mantra that dominates Ikea store designs (It Starts With Food) had to be translated into our experience. Our insights took us to a very direct and relatable proposition of breaking down the experience into three key principles -
Shop, Play, Eat
It Started With A Spoon
Next we need to find a way to unleash new shopping habits. We took an Ikea icon (their best selling wooden spoon) and our in-house creative technologist integrated an RFID chip into it as an update the typical Ikea pencil…simply tap the items you are interested in to add them to your shopping list.
And Then We Added The Joy
The spoon was also used as a catalyst for a number of playful experiences within the pop-up store. The games were designed to keep people engaged as they shopped and gave them virtual points that could be instantly redeemed against purchases and within the Ikea cafe.