IKEA, the famous Swedish furniture giant, is known for its elaborate marketing stunts and we all know that the fancy furniture magnate is tough competition. But is IKEA tough enough to tear your relationship apart?
To answer that, Buzzfeed conducted an experiment on two couples - one has been together for 10 years and the other, less than 10 days - where both couples were given unassembled "Micke" desks and were asked to put it together as soon as they could.
And all that to test the greater power - IKEA or Love! So who won?
Love! The durable 10-year-long love! But the discouraged "just met" couple had something really interesting to say:
"IKEA is like love. The instructions aren't always clear. Sometimes you think you are doing it wrong but at the end of the day, you've built a desk together."
Aww!
Check out the experiment below:
The experiment may or may not have been completely scientific, but IKEA does use an age-old psychological trick to make you love them.
The trick has now been termed the "IKEA Effect". The whole concept is - when you do someone a favour, your brain auto tunes itself to liking that person. Therefore, by providing instruction manuals and making customers build the furniture, IKEA is tricking you into loving them!
According to News.com.au:
"Coined by researchers from the Harvard Business School in their 2011 paper, the Ikea Effect shows that when people construct products themselves - from flatpack furniture to origami - they come to overvalue their creations, no matter how poorly made."
Savvy IKEA
IKEA has always thought 'out of the box' when it came to advertising and marketing campaigns.
Earlier, IKEA U.K. hosted a huge sleepover in their store, where they had massages, showed films and even got Sam Faiers of 'The Only Way is Essex' fame to read out bedtime stories. There was an in-house sleep expert as well.
They also introduced an Augmented Reality app that lets you fit the furniture of your choice in any room and decide if the piece is "the one", all virtually. There was this Facebook page too, which helped you buy IKEA furniture according to your Chinese Zodiac sign.
Bonus: Check out this quiz which determines if you are a metal head or an IKEA Fan.
