When Memac Ogilvy art director, Nicolás Lopez, and copywriter, Fernando Montero González, moved from Ogilvy Madrid to Memac Ogilvy, they began travelling to and from Ikea to furnish their new homes. They worked out that their combined trips to Ikea in Google Maps totalled five hours and 30 minutes and decided that Ikea could make use of its distance in a positive way. Most Ikea stores tend to be on the outskirts of city centres.

That led to the creation of the most inventive new store promotion. To launch Ikea Dubai’s new store in Jebel Ali, a large commercial port on the harbour of Dubai, Ikea and Memac Ogilvy let shoppers transfer the time they spend travelling to the new Ikea store into currency to pay for products.

Shoppers using the Buy With Your Time offer showed cashiers their Google Maps Timelines to prove how long it took them to travel to the store. The price of an hour was based on the average wage in Dubai so one hour is worth AED 105 (about AU$43). Shoppers could purchase items entirely with travel or make up the rest with card or cash. They could also accumulate travel credit over time.

The idea came from Memac Ogilvy art director, Nicolás Lopez, and copywriter, Fernando Montero González, when they moved from Ogilvy Madrid and were furnishing their new homes. They worked out that their combined trips to Ikea in Google Maps totalled five hours and 30 minutes and decided that Ikea could make use of its distance in a positive way.

Credits

Agency: Memac Ogilvy Dubai

Chief Creative Officer: Juggi Ramakrishnan

Group Creative Director: Youssef Gadallah

Creative Team: Nicolás López & Fernando Montero

Client Team Leader: Hadi Ballout

Head of Production: Amin Soltani

Junior Producer: Ann Vaas

Account Director: Preeti Hothi

Account Manager: Alaa Nour

Creative Director: Karim Sherif

PR Team: Saad Abu Touq & Saintana Saad

Production Company: Goldmine Films

Executive Producer: Madhup Agarwal

Director of Photography: Miraj Mohamed

Producer: Shaharbano Zaidi

Client: Ikea Al Futtaim

General Manager Marketing, Communication & Interior Design: Carla Klumpenaar

Regional Communication Manager: Amer Yaghi

Regional Digital Marketing Specialist: Noha Gheith

PR and Communications Specialist: Benita Chowdhury