Quiet rebels

According to Ellen Lewis IKEA always has three choices when launching into a new market;

1. it could accept that they do things differently oversees and avoid doing business in such countries

2. it could comprise and adapt in order to make offerings more acceptable to foreigners 

3. or it could stick to its guns and challenge local believes and tastes. 

IKEA always chooses for the last option and positions itself as a typical challenger brand , sometimes leaning on the Swedish identity. IKEA chooses to shake up the status quo. Being a challenger brand allows one to take more risks, for example in advertising, saying things other (local) brands could never say. In this respect IKEA was the first brand that used a gay couple in television advertising in United States, in 1994. Youtube displays pages of hits searching on 'IKEA banned commercials' (by the way some or really funny; and worth it seeing)

Strangely enough, IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad, does not approve of marketing, he sees it as a cost. As a result IKEA's marketing and advertising is always functional; the opening of a new store, but it does never subscribe to the fact that a brand has an image that is said to be maintained. Still, it is not a surprise that although just a very small part (8% in UK, opposed to 30% of local competitor MFI) of the budget is spent on advertising, IKEA wins awards and prices because it's not the amount of advertising but the content of the message that counts. IKEA prefers to let the world come to it's own conclusions. (now, come to your own conclusions by clicking)