A Swedish furniture giant’s online promotional material for this love month gained traction for how it advertised a promo in what Filipino netizens perceived to be a clever manner.
IKEA Philippines on February 15 greeted Pinoys a “Happy After-Valentine’s Day” with the hashtag “#NoRegrets.” It was accompanied by a baby emoji.
“Make sure to join IKEA Family to avail this offer in 9 months. Join the club for free,” it said, adding a link to IKEA Family.
The latter is a loyalty club that offers members discounted prices, invites to pre-opening events and home improvement workshops, and other rewards and benefits.
It also added a picture of a white crib with the following text: “See you in 9 months.”
Nine months is the usual period for fetal development in the womb or the stage of pregnancy.
“To celebrate Valentine’s Day, IKEA Family is giving you 3x IKEA Family points when you purchase this crib exactly 9 months after Valentine’s Day to help you start creating your own family!” the text in the promotional material reads.
The offer is valid up to October 14 of this year.
The ad amused Filipinos and has since earned viral status, garnering over 57,000 pure laughing reactions, 3,500 comments and 20,000 shares on the social networking site.
“One of the best ads I’ve seen!!” a Facebook user wrote with a laughing-with-tears emoji.
“Now THIS is how you do advertising,” another online user said.
“As someone who is born exactly on October 14, I am now realizing a few things,” commented a different Filipino.
“Sales will go (chart increasing emojis) after 9 months,” another Facebook user said.
“I see what you did there, Ikea,” wrote a different user with a smirking emoji.
IKEA opened its biggest store in the world in the Philippines last November.
According to reports, the furniture giant chose the Southeast Asian country to house its largest store due to its growing middle class and booming residential market.
IKEA is a long-running furniture retail company that was founded way back in 1953 in Sweden. It has since established itself as a brand that offers functional and well-designed furniture pieces to its customers across the world.