Ikea samples its threads

To help ease people's fear of decorating with textiles, Ikea and Leo Burnett created two-minute TV episodes that showed people how easy it is to experiment with fabrics. The "Quick & Easy Room Makeover Show" featured real couples working with designers to demonstrate how to transform a room with Ikea textiles.

The agency also created a freestanding street-level board with life-size paper samples of rugs, curtains and cushions, and people were encouraged to try them out at home.

An expandable masthead takeover on YouTube allowed consumers to decorate a virtual room using 28 textiles, and once it was transformed, they could share their design via social media or download a shopping list with the products.

The brand saw an 11% sales increase in textiles versus the same period a year ago, as well as a 10% increase in store visitors. The webisodes garnered over four million impressions, and over 8,900 textile samples were given out on the street.