ikea media plan
DESCRIPTION
The IKEA Media Plan for my advertising class which details the history of the company, products and services offered, psychographic and demographic characteristics of IKEA's target audience, as well as the reasoning behind the purchases of 25 different media vehicles.TRANSCRIPT
Media Plan for IKEA
An analysis of IKEA’s target audience and selection of media vehicles in which to advertise.
Prepared By Kara Andersen
9 April 2014
Document OverviewTarget Audience Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………1
Client Description 1
Client Overview 1
Client Offerings …4
Target Audience 5
Psychographic Elements 6
Demographic Elements 7
Geographic Choices……………………………………………………………..……………................................8Media Plan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...10
Media Type Priorities…………………………………………………………………………………………….10
Specific Media Choices…………………………………………………………………………………………..11
Media Plan Schedule……………………………………………………………………………………………..21
Justification of Money Spent………………………………………………………………………………….22Spreadsheets………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………26
1
Target Audience Bullet List Summary
o Target’s Psychographic Summary
Enjoys home decorating
Enjoys DIY projects
Reads home décor magazines
o Target’s Demographic Summary
Between 35-64
Married female
Homeowner
Median income of $41,000
o Target’s Geographic Summary
Metro Priority No. 1: New York City
Metro Priority No. 2: Philadelphia
Metro Priority No. 3: Dallas/Fort Worth
o Client Description
Company Overview: IKEA is a 71-year-old Swedish company
with stores around the world. Ingvar Kampard founded the
company in 1943 at the age of 17 and initially sold small
household items such as wallets, picture frames, pens, and
nylon stockings. He developed the name IKEA from his initials
(I.K.) and the initials of the farm and village he grew up on
(E.A.). In the beginning he made sales calls himself, but by 1945
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the business had grown so much that he was unable to continue
this. This was the first year that the Kampard placed
advertisements in the local newspaper. By 1948, IKEA was
selling furniture made by people in surrounding villages. This
was well received and the product line continued to expand.
By the early 1950s, IKEA had opened a showroom in Älmhult,
Sweden that showcased their designs and the quality of their
products. Their goal in building a showroom was to be able to
show consumers that their products were both inexpensive and
made in a quality way, and to allow customers to compare IKEA
products to a competitor’s products. In 1956, IKEA’s concept of
consumer-assembled furniture came to fruition after an IKEA
co-worker took the legs off of a table so that it would fit into a
vehicle and avoid being damaged during transit. The first IKEA
store opened in Älmhult, Sweden in 1958, and at the time it was
the largest furniture display in all of Scandinavia. The first IKEA
store outside of Sweden was opened in Norway in 1963 and
continued to expand into Denmark and Switzerland over the
following decade. (IKEA)
Fifty-five years after the first IKEA store opened, Fiscal-Year
2013 saw 345 stores located in 42 countries around the world.
In 2013 alone, 9 new stores were opened on 3 continents; North
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America, Europe, and Asia. The store distribution worldwide
breaks down in this way:
72%
14%
9%3% 2% >1%
Store Distribution
Europe
North America
Asia
Middle East
Australia
Central Amer-ica
Europe continues to boast the highest number of stores. However, IKEA is
making strides to open more stores in a
variety of countries. Fiscal-Year 2013 alone
saw the opening of first-ever stores in Qatar and
Lithuania. IKEA Vilnius, the Lithuanian
location, was the first IKEA store within the
Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).
IKEA has 38 franchise locations in the United
States, spread across 21 different states.
California has the most, with 8 stores, and
most of the stores in the United States are located on either coast.
(Inter IKEA Systems)
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AreaStore
Count
Europe 248
North America 50
Asia 30
Middle East 9
Australia 7
Central America 1
U.S.
Area
Store
Count
Northeast 12
Southwes
t
10
South 8
Midwest 6
Northwes
t
2
IKEA’s annual revenue in the United States is $2.9 billion, which
accounts for approximately 10% of IKEA’s worldwide annual
revenue. (Statistics Brain)
IKEA began as a company that was dedicated to providing a way
for people, even with limited means, to purchase quality
furniture and accents for their home. (The Economist) Over
9,500 different pieces of home furnishing articles are carried by
IKEA, with prices beginning at 29 cents for a dog dish.
(Statistics Brain) They are able to offer these lower prices
because of three key business strategies. First, they do not
focus on having salespeople constantly interacting with the
customers at their stores. Instead, they focus on creating clear
displays that speak for themselves and allow for a more “self-
service” approach. Second, IKEA does not rely on third party
companies to create the furniture in IKEA stores. They design
all of their furniture in a way that keeps costs low. Finally,
furniture that is sold at an IKEA store is packaged in a “flat-
pack,” which reduces costs because it is easier to ship and store
and costs are also reduced because the consumer assembles the
product in their own home. (Supply Chain Management)
Client Offerings: Each IKEA store carries a wide variety of home
furnishings, ranging from beds and bookcases, to full kitchen
cabinet sets, to home accents and decorations. Products are
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divided into the following designations: Living Room, Bedroom,
Kitchen & Appliances, Children’s IKEA, Textiles & Rugs, and For
Business. Some examples of products offered in each category are
as follows: (IKEA-US)
Category Product offerings
Living RoomCouches, chairs, end tables, coffee tables, lighting, throw
pillows, cushions, curtains, storage units, TV furniture
BedroomBed frames, mattresses, lamps, light fixtures, bedding,
pillows, dressers, wardrobes, night stands, hangers, hooks
Kitchen &
Appliances
Cabinets, islands, ovens, cooktops, refrigerators,
microwaves, countertops, faucets, sinks, storage, knobs
Children’s
IKEA
Cribs, bed frames, mattresses, small furniture, storage,
toys, lamps, desks, highchairs, mirrors, tableware
Textiles &
Rugs
Rugs, bedding, linens, curtains, cushions, pillows, curtain
rods, fabric, blankets, towels, shower curtains, aprons
For Business Desks, storage cabinets, chairs, lamps, tables, bookcases,
stands, lighting, filing cabinets.
Along with the wide array of products that IKEA sells in
their stores, the store also offers services to customers
such as home delivery of products, assembly of products
and installation of kitchen cabinets, design software, and
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home furnishing advice. Many of these services come at a
cost. Home delivery begins at $59 while home delivery
and installation costs $79 and up. Advice about home
design and furnishing is free, along with kitchen planning
advice. (IKEA Services)
My Target Audience Choice: Home Designers and Furnishers
o Introduction: Home designers are a varied group of
people. Tastes and trends vary from classic to modern,
vintage to country, and cottage to industrial. Oftentimes the
location of a person’s house, along with their own personal
style, can dictate the overall appearance and aesthetic that
they focus on when decorating. People from rural areas
tend to decorate in a more traditional style while those from
larger, more metropolitan areas lean toward styles that
would be considered more modern or contemporary
As a group, home decorators became more active in 2013,
when compared to previous years. Many people who would
normally have purchased home furnishings were not making
these purchases because of the economy and their own
personal budget constraints. In 2013, there began to be an
increase in the number of people searching for home
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furnishings and decorations for their home, in part because
the economy has been on an upswing and people are more
open to making more purchases of non-necessity goods for
their home. (Scott)
Psychographic Elements of Home Decorators: As a whole,
consumers who enjoy furnishing their home also enjoy doing do-it-
yourself projects. These projects could range from sewing new
curtains, making throw pillows for the living room, or refinishing
floors or even rooms. Do-it-yourselfers appreciate saving money by
doing things themselves instead of having to pay for the same
service. They also enjoy the creativity involved with each project.
(Bosari) Home decorators are also interested in following trends by
reading magazines related to home furnishings, decorating, and
renovations. Magazines allow home decorators to see what options
are around for room design, and they can also see color and item
trends from around the country or just in the particular style they
are interested in, depending on the magazines to which they
subscribe. (Marketing to Home Decorators) Home decorators are
also using subtle colors in their decorating, such as blues and
grays. This allows them the ability to coordinate many items of
different colors and styles. (Today)
Demographic Elements of Home Decorators: Single females
account for approximately 38 % of home decorators, but the
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majority of home decorators are married (55%). The average age of
a person interested in home decorating is 57, however, interest in
home decorating peaks in those who are between the ages of35
and 64. Over 75% of people who are interested in home decorating
are homeowners. The median household income of home
decorators is $41,000, but about 23% of home decorators have an
income of less than $20,000 and 20.5% have an income of $50,000-
$74,999. Seventy-nine percent of people who are interested in
home decorating have an average household income that is less
than $74,999. (SRDS)
How Target Aligns with IKEA’s offerings: IKEA offers an array
of products for any room of the home. The products offered would
most appeal to a person who is interested in the Scandinavian
style. IKEA also sells products that are reasonably priced and
would fit within the target audience’s budget. The lower prices and
option to avoid assembly cost by putting things together yourself
allows the IKEA customer to save money but not sacrifice style.
oGeographic Choice Explanation
I chose to focus my advertising on the metropolitan areas of
Philadelphia, New York, and Dallas. All three of these areas have
high concentrations of people who are interested in home
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decorating, and Philadelphia and New York both have multiple
stores within the same metropolitan area, which allows advertisers
to maximize the impact of the ads that they run because they are
able to reach people within the publication radius who, while not a
resident of the target city, still receive the intended messages and
can act on them.
Metro Area priority No. 1: New York City, New York
New York boasts the highest number of people interested
in home decorating, according to the Standard Rate and
Data Service. Over 2,876,000 people had this interest in
2007 alone, accounting for just over 38% of the
population. IKEA boasts four stores in what could be
considered the New York metropolitan area. There are
two stores on Long Island, in Brooklyn and Hicksville,
which are 30 miles apart. There are also two stores across
the river in New Jersey, in Elizabeth and Paramus, which
are 20 and 24 miles from the Brooklyn location,
respectively. Many consumers in this area that are
reading media from New York will have an IKEA store that
is located somewhere near them, so IKEA can benefit from
the home decorators around the New York metro area
who are reading the advertisements and going to one of
the four IKEA stores in the area.
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Metro Area Priority No. 2: Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
According to the Standard Rate and Data Service,
Philadelphia boasts over 1,124,000 who have an interest
in home decorating. This number accounts for 38% of the
population. There are two stores in the greater
Philadelphia area, one in Philadelphia and one in
Conshohocken, 20 miles away. Placing advertisements in
various media in the area will not only reach those in
Philadelphia who are interested in home decorating, but
also those in the metro area surrounding the city. IKEA
can benefit from ads here because they will be seen by
people who live in and near Philadelphia, and with 2
stores within 20 miles of each other, there is more of a
chance that the people who see the ads will also have an
IKEA within a reasonable distance.
Metro Area Priority No. 3: Dallas, Texas
Although Dallas does not boast nearly the number of
consumers who are interested in house decorating as
Philadelphia or New York, the 929,709 people who are
interested in home décor does account for nearly 40% of
the population of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
IKEA has one store in this area, and it is located on the
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north side of the metro area, in Frisco. Its location is ideal
because it allows people from the city to easily travel to
IKEA, and is also accessible by people in the suburbs and
nearby towns. Consumers will likely see media from
Dallas, even if they live near the city, and the advertising
could draw them to IKEA, because it is located
conveniently.
IKEA Media Plan
Introduction: The following is a media plan for IKEA. It consists of
25 different media vehicles within six different types of media. The
media vehicles break down in the following way; four magazines,
three newspapers, three radio stations, three television programs,
eleven web sites, and Google AdWords. A total of $1,999,880 was
spent on this campaign, with an emphasis on purchasing website and
magazine advertisements. The campaign runs April through July, with
most advertisements running in a bursting or flighting pattern
throughout. The highest media priority was websites, followed by
magazines.
Media Type Priorities: My top media priority is websites. Prior
research into the interests of home decorators showed that they enjoy
doing research online about home design. By placing advertisements
on the eleven selected websites, they will be reaching consumers who
are interested in modern design, interior decorating, and do-it-
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yourself projects, all characteristics of members of IKEA’s target
audience. Placing advertisements on websites allows for the potential
for them to be viewed multiple times, if a consumer frequents the site.
Unlike radio and television placements, which operate by inserting
advertisements that are heard or seen once, until they are played
again, and rely on the fact that the consumer heard or saw what was
played, placing advertisements on websites allows for a better chance
that the advertisement will be seen because it is on the page for as
long as the consumer is viewing the material on the page.
My secondary media choice was magazines because members of
IKEA’s target audience are interested in home décor, modern style,
and do-it-yourself projects, and there are specific magazines that
focus on those interests. The selected magazines each focus on at
least one interest of IKEA’s target audience, which means that the
consumer will be in ideal place, while reading the magazine, to
correlate their interests and the offerings of IKEA as they relate to
each other.
Specific Media Choices:
Magazine Choices:
Metropolitan Home: I chose to advertise in Metropolitan
Home magazine because it focuses on the latest trends in
decorating, as well as home design and home furnishings. This
magazine is also has a high number of subscribers on the East
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Coast, with a high circulation concentration in New England and
the Mid-Atlantic States, which would allow it to reach
consumers in the New York metropolitan area who are close to
the IKEA stores nearby.
Dwell: Dwell is a good choice to advertise in because it
focuses on people who are interested in “open, adaptable
characteristics often found in modern design.” IKEA’s design
style is very sleek and modern, and would be of interest to
people reading this magazine. The circulation in New England
and the Mid-Atlantic is high, so it has the potential to reach
many people in the New York metro area who are near an IKEA
store.
Dallas Home and Heritage- Dallas Home and Heritage
is a publication that reaches Dallas, Fort Worth, and nearby
suburbs. Even though it has a smaller readership and higher
CPM than any other magazine, it is a worthwhile purchase
because it directly reaches those persons in the Dallas/Fort
Worth metropolitan area that have a vested interest in home
design. Dallas Home and Heritage is dedicated to providing
home design inspiration that is current and modern, which fits
the target audience.
Better Homes and Gardens (New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Texas): Advertising in Better Homes and Gardens is
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an effective choice because it is a magazine that is dedicated to
“helping people make their lives better through . . . home design
and decorating” among other topics (SRDS). This aligns with the
audience that IKEA targets because their target audience is
interested in interior decorating and stylish design. Because
Better Homes and Gardens is such a widely published magazine,
it was important to focus the advertisements to the areas that
were relevant to IKEA’s target audience. Only advertising in the
magazines that are distributed in Pennsylvania, Texas, New
Jersey, and New York state directly reach the top target metro
areas. Even though the CPM is the highest of any magazine, it is
a worthwhile purchase because it is very pointed and directed
toward the exact metropolitan areas that IKEA wants to target.
The ad is a 1/3 page ad that runs on the inside of the magazine
to reach readers as they are thumbing through.
Newspaper Choices:
Fort Worth Star-Telegram- Advertising in the Star-
Telegram is beneficial to IKEA because it will effectively reach
the audience that would be interested in IKEA’s offerings and
lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. Placing ads in the
Sunday art section will reach the best audience, because
compared to the other special sections that the Star-Telegram
offers, the Arts section would be most appealing to the target
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audience that IKEA is trying to reach. Running ads the first two
weeks of each month of the four-month advertising cycle will
allow consumers to see the ads for two consecutive weeks, not
realize that they aren’t seeing it for two weeks, and then see it
again during the first two weeks of the next month.
Norristown Times Herald-Although advertising in the
Norristown Times Herald does not seem like a wise choice, it
will actually reach a very distinct audience. Norristown is only
three miles from the IKEA store in Conshohocken, Pa. This
paper will reach consumers in the suburbs who are very close to
the IKEA store there. Advertising in the Welcome Home Real
Estate section will target consumers very directly because most
of IKEA’s target audience is new home buyers. An ad here will
reach those consumers who are thinking about buying and
furnishing a new house. The 12 advertisements will be spread
between 4 months. They will run for three consecutive
Saturdays, not run for one week, and then run again for three
Saturdays.
New York Times (NY Regional Edition) - Placing
advertisements in the regional edition of the New York Times is
the best way to reach the audience that is in the area of any of
four IKEA stores within the New York metropolitan area.
Running the ad in the House and Home section, which runs on
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Thursdays, will reach home decorators more directly. Those
interested in home decorating are most likely to be looking in
the section labeled House and Home. The ad will run on the first
Thursday of each month.
Radio Choices:
WHTZ-FM (New York)- I chose to run ads on this Pop
Contemporary Hits radio station because some brief research
revealed that the age range of the people who are interesting in
IKEA’s offerings are more likely to listen to this type of radio.
WHTZ also has the highest ratings of any Pop Contemporary
Hits station in the New York area. I chose to run the ad 10 times
each Friday evening of the campaign. I chose to run the ads on
Friday evenings because people are out and about and when
they hear the ad, they may be more likely to have an opportunity
to go to an IKEA store over the weekend.
WIOQ-FM (Philadelphia)-WIOQ is a good choice for
radio advertisements in the Philadelphia metro area because
their format aligns with the interests of the target audience.
They also have the highest ratings of any of the Pop
Contemporary Hits stations in the area. Advertising on Friday
nights throughout the campaign will reach those people who
turn on the radio at their Friday night parties and get-togethers.
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It would also allow people to have a chance to go to an IKEA
store over the weekend.
KHKS-FM (Dallas) - Choosing to advertise on KHKS is a
good idea because it will reach the consumers in the Dallas
metro area who are the target for the items and style that IKEA
has. Placing advertisements in Friday evening spots will allow
them to reach consumers who tune in to the station on Friday
nights while relaxing or enjoying a party.
Television Choices:
House Hunters Renovation: House Hunters Renovation
is an excellent television choice for advertisements because it is
a show dedicated to home buyers who look for a home that they
ultimately purchase, renovate and update. This aligns with
IKEA’s target because they have an interest in home renovation
and are typically newer home buyers. I chose to put more
insertions in Philadelphia because, of the three metro priorities,
it is the one with the most potential for home buyers. The New
York metropolitan area does not have the available homes for
purchase. Rather, it has many apartments, so I put fewer
insertions there and in Dallas. The advertisements will appear
during the Prime advance time of the day, which is 5-7 in the
Central time zone and 6-8 in the Eastern time zone. This will
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reach people who are watching television after work or while
preparing dinner.
Renovation Realities: Advertising during the show
Renovation Realities will reach those members of the target
audience that have an interest in do-it-yourself projects for the
home. The show focuses on the ups and downs of working on
projects yourself as well as the struggles that come with do-it-
yourself projects. Advertisements would run during the Prime
advance day-part, which would those people who are home from
work, relaxing and watching television in the evening. I decided
on 40 insertions in each of the three cities because whether the
target audience lives in apartments or houses, they are still
interested in do-it-yourself projects and would watch this show.
Sarah’s House: The program Sarah’s House follows a
woman as she renovates an outdated house with a more modern
and stylish décor style. She does the work herself, which is what
makes this show appealing to IKEA’s target audience because
they have an interest in modern style and renovations as well as
do-it-yourself projects. I chose to place advertisements in the
prime advance day-part because it will reach those members of
the target audience that are home in the evening, relaxing and
watching television. This show would appeal to target audience
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members in any of the three metro areas, which is the reason
for equal insertions in each city.
Website Choices:
Design-milk.com- Design-milk.com is a website that is
devoted to modern design, and much of their design is centered
on sleek, modern, Scandinavian designs, similar to the products
offered by IKEA. Their average monthly traffic is about 40,000
unique visitors a month, and even though that is lower than
many other websites, design-milk has a devoted following,
meaning that their visitors return monthly to investigate new
content. This is what makes it a good purchase choice.
Realsimple.com/home-organizing: Placing
advertisements on the part of the Real Simple magazine devoted
to home and organizing will reach people who have an interest
in keeping up-to-date on modern trends and design ideas for
their house. Some of their top articles include, “Living Room
Decorating Ideas” and “23 Decorating Tricks for your
Bedroom.” These and other articles will appeal to the target
audience because they have an interest in home decorating.
IKEA has furniture for many different rooms of a house, so
placing advertisements on Real Simple’s website will reach
people, even if each of them is interested in decorating different
rooms of their house. With a CPM of only 19 cents, advertising
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on the Real Simple website is also cost effective, reaching many
people at a lower price than most of the other websites on
which advertisements are being placed.
HGTV.com/decorating: Placing advertisements on the
HGTV website is an effective choice because it will reach those
people who turn to the website for tip, inspiration, and further
ideas from shows that they may have seen on television. The
decorating section of the website is devoted not only to home
décor and design, but also to remodeling, which is an activity of
interest to the target audience. With a CPM of 8 cents,
advertising on the HGTV website is a cost-effective option, and
the most affordable of all of the advertising placements on
websites, in terms of CPM.
Dwell.com: Advertising on the dwell.com site in
conjunction with placing advertisements in the Dwell magazine
has the potential to reach target audience members multiple
times, thus helping to keep the IKEA name fresh in their
memory. The Dwell website provides modern design ideas,
which align with the target audience. Because dwell.com has a
smaller readership than other larger websites, I only chose to
place 90,000 advertisements over the course of the three month
campaign.
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BHG.com/…remodeling: While the Better Homes and
Gardens website has a variety of sections that might appeal to
the target audience for IKEA, focusing advertising on the
remodeling section will reach those members of the greater
target audience that are specifically interested in remodeling
their homes. Better Homes and Gardens website does not
specifically focus their design section on modern design, which
is why it is a better choice to only place advertisements in the
remodeling section of the site. They will reach the people they
are meant to reach, and who have an interest in IKEA’s
products. I placed a greater number of advertisements on this
site over the course of the campaign because it has a greater
viewership than some smaller websites, and it also has an
affordable 39 cent CPM.
DIYnetwork.com/decorating: Advertisements on the
decorating section of the DIY network website will reach those
members of the target audience who are either coming to the
website because of a show they have seen on television, or
because they are looking for do-it-yourself decorating ideas.
Either of these types of people would be interested in IKEA’s
offerings, which is what makes this website an excellent choice
for advertisements. Members of the target audience are
interested in both modern interior design and do-it-yourself
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projects. Because this website has a higher number of unique
visitors each month, running 135,000 advertisements over the
course of the campaign will help to reach more of the website’s
viewers.
Thisoldhouse.com: Placing advertisements on the This
Old House website will reach those members of the target
audience who are interested in remodeling and do-it-yourself
projects. A large portion of the website is devoted to projects for
the home and do-it-yourself ideas, which fits the interests of
IKEA’s target audience. Because the advertisements will be
placed in a sub-page of the website as opposed to a main page
or the front page, only 90,000 advertisements will be run, since
the viewership is lower that the larger portions of the site.
Freshome.com: Freshome.com is a website that is
dedicated to modern designs and especially interior decorating.
It features sections about design for many different rooms of a
house and also lets readers submit their projects. This aligns
with IKEA’s target audience because it is known that they have
an interest in modern interior design as well as do-it-yourself
projects. Even though the CPM is higher than most of the other
websites, freshome.com is still a cost-effective purchase because
it reaches a distinct audience of creative people who do projects
for the home and are interested in interior design.
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Houzz.com: Houzz.com is a unique yet cost-effective
choice for advertisement placement. The website is dedicated to
helping inspire modern interior design. It lets users search
through rooms that others have designed and projects that
others have done to gather inspiration for their own projects.
IKEA’s advertisements would align well with the audience of
this site because they would be reaching people who are
interested in both interior design and projects for the home.
Housebeautiful.com: Housebeautiful.com offers a
variety of modern design tips, inspiration, and designer tips.
Users of this site would have an interest in modern furniture
and design, which would align with IKEA’s target audience.
IKEA’s furnishing options would be of interest to consumers
who are interested in the advice and inspiration that
housebeautiful.com offers.
Home-designing.com: Home-designing.com offers home
and interior design ideas for a modern style. Their website is
devoted to ideas for every room of the house, so IKEA’s modern
furnishings would appeal to visitors to this site. IKEA offers
sleek, modern furniture that aligns with the designs and
interiors featured on home-designing.com. Since the website
has a smaller viewership than many of the other website
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choices, I decided to run fewer advertisements during the
course of the campaign.
Google Keywords:
Inexpensive modern furniture: Since IKEA’s furniture
and décor is marketed as both inexpensive and modern, it would
fit what people who are using these key words would be looking
for.
Modern furniture design: Displaying advertisements for
IKEA when consumers use these key words would be effective
because the modern designs that IKEA offers would be of
interest to them. Because IKEA offers lower prices that some
other modern furniture retailers, consumers could discover
IKEA’s affordability when compared to other advertisements
that might also appear.
Modern interior design: IKEA offers furniture that
would be of interest to someone who was searching for modern
interior design. IKEA’s products align with a modern style and
because they offer products for all rooms in a house, no matter
what room a person was particularly interested in applying
modern design styles to, IKEA’s products would align with what
they are looking for.
Scandinavian furniture design: Because IKEA’s
furniture is distinctly Scandinavian; a person who was searching
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for Scandinavian furniture design would be interested in the
furniture selection that IKEA offers.
Scandinavian interior design: If someone was
interested in decorating their house in a Scandinavian style,
IKEA’s offerings would align with that consumer’s interests
because their furniture has a distinctly Scandinavian style.
Simple modern design: The furniture that IKEA offers
features simple lines and basic colors and styles. A person
interested in a simple, modern design style would be interested
in IKEA’s furniture because it would have features that would
align with their interest in simplicity and modernity.
Media Plan Schedule: The four consecutive months in which I chose
to run the IKEA media plan are April, May, June, and July. These four
months were chosen because of the seasonal change and the idea that
as the weather warms, many people take the opportunity to clean or
update their house. This allows for the opportunity to reach people
who may have, over the colder months, become tired of their furniture
or are looking for a change. Advertisements can be run during this
time that emphasize that a person who might want to change or
update their furniture could do so with clean, simple, modern
furniture from IKEA at a less expensive price than a consumer might
find at another retailer.
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The magazine advertisements run in each magazine four times,
once each month of the campaign. The advertisements in the
newspapers run at differing times. Advertisements in the Fort Worth
Star run once a week for eight weeks; four in April and four in June. In
the Norristown Times Herald, the advertisements run once weekly
from April to June, with twelve total insertions.
Advertisements in the New York Times run once a week for the
month of April. This creates a bursting type of newspaper campaign,
with heavier advertising presence in the months of April and June.
Radio advertisements are scheduled to run during all of the months of
the campaign, with a total of 208 insertions on each radio station. This
breaks down to 13 insertions each week on each station.
Television advertisements are run as follows: Advertisements
will appear during each show 10 times each month, except for
insertions during the broadcasting of House Hunters Renovation in
the New York metropolitan area.
There are between 50,000 and 70,000 impressions on internet sites
during each month of the campaign. Internet advertisements will run
for all four months of the campaign, and the number of impressions is
based on the number of unique visitors a site receives each month,
and in that regard, their popularity as well.
Justification of Money Spent: The budget for IKEA’s advertising
campaign was $2 million. A total of $1,999,880 was actually spent on
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this campaign, and the breakdown of spending breaks down in this
way:
$838,316
$94,601
$698,443
$305,558
$18,953$44,008
IKEA Media Type Spending Analysis
MagazinesNewspaperRadioTelevisionInternetGoogle AdWords
The most money was spent to purchase magazine advertising space,
with $838,316 or approximately 42% of the budget devoted to
purchasing advertising space in four magazines. Because
advertisements are more costly to advertise in than some other media
types, and because magazines are the second most important media
type in this campaign, spending this amount on them is beneficial
because it allows for the purchase of quality magazines that relate to
the target audience and will reach them in effective ways.
The second largest amount of money was spent purchasing radio
advertising space. Approximately 35% of the budget, or $698,443 was
put into the purchase of advertisements in radio. Because radio is also
more costly than many other media types, this spending is reasonable
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and effective for the campaign, even though radio is not one of the
highest priorities. The money purchased advertisements on three
different radio stations for sixteen consecutive weeks.
Even though less than 1% of the budget was spent on internet
placements, advertising space on eleven different websites was
purchased. Because internet is the highest media priority, purchasing
advertising space on eleven websites is an effective use of money and
will reach more people.
Since television, Google AdWords, and newspapers were not high
priorities, only 22 % of the budget was devoted to purchases. These
were not the most effective ways to reach consumers who would be
interested in IKEA’s products and services, which is the reason for
less spending in each category.
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