Key Takeaways

• IKEA aimed to position itself as the go-to brand for stylish, budget-conscious students in London
• Time Out created comprehensive student guides for each region of London, covering key interests like Food, Drink, Culture, Nightlife, and Shopping, while highlighting nearby IKEA stores.
• A special IKEA-themed episode of Cheap Eats showcased in-store food options as affordable dining, and tailored Student Guides further positioned IKEA as a top destination for students for furnishings.
• The campaign used vibrant, illustrated visuals and targeted social media posts
• The campaign saw strong audience engagement, with high page views, impressive dwell times, particularly among 18-24 year olds, indicating active exploration and effective targeting of the student demographic.

One Page Summary

The Challenge

Each autumn, London welcomes a wave of new students eager to explore the city and find budget-friendly activities, dining options, and experiences—all within the limits of their student budgets. The objective was to position IKEA as the go-to brand for stylish, value-conscious students looking to furnish their homes, while also highlighting key products and offers that demonstrate how IKEA delivers both great value and memorable experiences.

The Plan/Execution

To capture the attention of students across London, Time Out created the ultimate student guide to the city, focusing on the unique offerings of East, West, North, and South London. These guides covered major interests such as Food, Drink, Culture, Nightlife, and Shopping, and strategically pointed out the nearest IKEA stores in each area. The content was amplified to reach students throughout London.

Time Out also produced a special IKEA-themed episode of its popular social video series, Cheap Eats, showcasing IKEA’s in-store food options as one of the most delicious and cost-effective dining experiences in London. Additionally, Time Out developed tailored Student Guides for each part of the city, positioning IKEA as the essential destination for students preparing to move into university accommodations.

To visually engage the audience, Time Out collaborated with an illustrator to create vibrant visuals depicting key London spots and featured IKEA products. These illustrations personified each area of London in a way that resonated with students. Targeted social media posts highlighted the best of North, East, South, and West London, specifically reaching London-based 18-35 year-olds to ensure the campaign connected with the student demographic. Testing revealed that real-life imagery outperformed graphic images, driving a click-through rate (CTR) of 1.38%, with East London leading the way at 1.89%. The campaign also saw 289 shares and saves, indicating that the content was valuable and shareable among the audience.

Results

• The campaign hub exceeded expected page views, showing strong interest from the audience. The average dwell time was an impressive 5 minutes and 33 seconds, indicating that users were deeply engaged with the guides and actively exploring the content.
• The 18-24 age group drove the majority of Instagram interactions (56%) and comprised 40% of the overall audience, making them the most engaged demographic.
• East London emerged as the most popular guide in terms of page views, followed by South London, while West London trailed as the least popular.
• Dwell time across most content was above benchmark, with an average of 3 minutes and 7 seconds, further demonstrating that students were thoroughly exploring the guides.
• The high number of landing page views suggested that the audience was actively using it as a gateway to access the most relevant guides.