The big blue bags at Ikea are almost as famous as the Ikea logo itself, and have become a recognisable symbol of the brand – something many shops aspire to, I'm sure. Following on from its The Giving Bag commercial, which began airing in the States a few months ago (scroll down if you missed it), IKEA has now created a 19-foot tall 3D Big Blue Bag sculpture, with AR capabilities, which is on tour in the US.
Visitors to the Bag don't just get to reminisce about that time they had an argument with their partner/parent/child while looking at lampshades, but can also scan a QR code to get an AR experience (cue us feeling smug as we predicted AR was the future).
The AR experience shows Ikea products flying out of the bag (this sounds very Mary Poppins-esque), plus an offer that gets you 10% off if you spend over $150 at the store. The latter is fuelled by Adobe's Aero, which uses Google's geospatial data to enable you to redeem their coupon at your nearest Ikea store.
Do the products go back in the bag at the end, though? (Image credit: IKEA)
The Bag has already been on display in Chicago's Millennium Park and is now in Houston's Discovery Green park, before it heads to New York. Behind this promotion is ad agency Ogilvy, which doesn't surprise me, as the agency is known for its clever stunts, including some standout billboard marketing campaigns.
Ikea is also no stranger to clever marketing either – we recently covered a brave new advert that says its products are "second best" and we've also seen it parody MTV Cribs in another ad spot. Plus, who remembers that Ronaldo water bottle stunt?
If you've not seen the Giving Bag ad then it's also worth a look, see below:
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Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
