Great guerrilla marketing is innovative. Every so often, a brand does something that isn’t just unexpected, but game-changing in the world of guerrilla marketing. T-Mobile did it with their T-Mobile dance flash mob; Red Bull did it with their Stratos Jump and IKEA have now done it with the world’s first Instagram website.

Hacking innovation

To advertise their 32-piece designer PS 2014 collection, the furniture retailer produced a campaign that approached Instagram in an entirely new way.

With the collection’s mission statement of “Always on the move,” IKEA hacked the social platform to create a website out of the Instagram grid, using a series of interconnected accounts, and Instagram’s in-built tagging system.

The Instagram account ikea_ps_2014 functions just like a regular website. It has 12 image tabs displaying different product categories like a virtual catalogue, and licking on a category takes users to the items within the category, all of which have their own unique Instagram accounts. The tagging feature on the app has been used to enable easy navigation between pages and involvement from users.

Within each product’s Instagram account, there are videos of the item being used, product information, and snapshots from different angles.

Users are encouraged to participate in the campaign by adding and tagging their own Instagram images of IKEA PS 2014 products.

IKEA Russia Promotes Latest Collection By Creating A ‘Website’ On Instagram http://t.co/nIZOYIVPv0 … pic.twitter.com/fX3fs0ASiX

— Will Corry (@slievemore) August 20, 2015

The Result

Throughout its life as a brand, IKEA has always had a strong focus on taking something and using it differently, or recreating what consumers’ ideas are of certain things. The novelty of seeing the Instagram medium used in such a unique way lends itself to the guerrilla marketing campaign’s viral nature, and to its success – the brand saw over 20,000 new Instagram followers within days of launching. That, along with their unstated claim as being the first to create something like an Instagram website puts IKEA at the forefront of guerrilla marketing innovation.

This guerrilla marketing campaign was certainly one of the more novel uses of Instagram as a free promotional medium, and a fun way to browse Ikea’s collection. The innovation hasn’t just opened the doors for more use of Instagram in unusual ways, but more use of all apps. In many ways, and in-line with the IKEA philosophy, this guerrilla marketing campaign encourages people to think outside the box, and innovate in their own lives, by removing themselves from the limitations of their own thoughts.

Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. 

Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk