Ikea Gets Into a Hot Bed

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=54824&Nid=27059&p=416179

"Ikea has turned to a new kind of consumer-generated video network that designed to motivate consumers to interact with and create videos based on their brands. Unlike others who are treating user-generated content as advertising, PR or buzz marketing, the Ikea campaign is based on a very old marketing model: consumer promotion. The promotion, which is being hosted and managed by Shycast, any early stage company that is going public today with the Ikea campaign, is essentially a contest that offers $5,000 in cash to the user who creates the best online video on making a bed. Actually, the contest asks consumers to "break the rules" of bed-making."

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"As of early this morning, moments after the campaign went live, Shycast had three video posts: One from Bill showing a bed "making itself; one from Steph, "making my bed;" and one from Robert J. Moore, asking whether, "you can see me" in his bed.
The hope of Ikea and its agencies is that the campaign will prove to be more than just a test bed, and that it will catch on like wildfire, tapping a new undercurrent of competition in the user-generated video space."



How cool is this concept. If you are in the market for an advertising agency you should hire these guys now. I love it.

Cheers,
Dean