IKEA Converted Accidental Yellow Shirt-Wearers Into Employees When It Was Busy

Video screenshot via IKEA UAE

Have you ever been confused for someone working at a store? IKEA has seen its fair share of such incidents, most especially since yellow shirts are a part of its staff uniforms.

At least for a moment, these encounters became less of an embarrassment at IKEA in Al-Futtaim, Dubai, where shoppers dressed in yellow were automatically “hired” if they donned special lanyards distinguishing them as coworkers of the day. Their help was well-appreciated as the store was into its busiest season and it only had so many staffers to attend to customers.

“During sale season, Al-Futtaim IKEA’s foot traffic can increase by over 600%,” the campaign’s advertising agency, Memac Ogilvy, shares with DesignTAXI. “To combat this, the region’s leading Swedish home furnishing retailer took advantage of a very common fashion mishap: wearing a yellow shirt to your local IKEA.”

Video screenshot via IKEA UAE

All the training the one-day employees needed was accessible through public information in IKEA’s newly-updated app. To address shoppers’ queries, they could simply take a picture or scan a barcode to find out more about an item and its availability.

Video screenshot via IKEA UAE

“Armed with the app, [customers] would have the same knowledge of IKEA as an actual coworker,” says the press release.

To reward yellow shirt-wearing volunteers for “their not-so-hard work,” IKEA presented them with a gift voucher that they could use at their next visit. 

Video screenshot via IKEA UAE

“We were delighted to give our customers the chance to join the IKEA coworker family, even if only for the day,” notes Vinod Jayan, Managing Director at IKEA UAE, Qatar, Oman and Egypt. “We wanted to reward those who were brave enough to wear yellow… while also showing everyone just how versatile and adept the IKEA app is at helping customers find their way around the store. The two things combined gave life to this light-hearted activation and we couldn’t be happier.”

[via Memac Ogilvy, video and screenshots via IKEA UAE]