Ikea is the life improvement store.

Iconic retailer IKEA is launching a new brand platform and marketing campaign by new ad agency of record Ogilvy & Mather, built around positioning IKEA as The Life Improvement Store and leveraging the brand’s core vision and mission of creating a better everyday life for the many people.

To bring the brand platform to life, Ogilvy has created an integrated marketing campaign — “Made By” — that demonstrates how the Johnsons, Garcias and other customers create individual living spaces “made by” them, and “designed by” IKEA to help make their life a little better. A series of: 30 second ads will begin airing on Sunday, August 29, 2010, with national print and online media, and local broadcast media starting in September. The campaign will also run concurrently in Spanish language TV and digital media through an integrated Hispanic effort developed by IKEA’s Hispanic agency of record S,C,P,F in partnership with Ogilvy.

“This new brand platform provides a unified way for us to share the IKEA vision of creating a better everyday life for the many through the products and services that we offer,” explained Christine Scoma Whitehawk, Communications Manager for IKEA. “As this campaign rolls out, you will see The Life Improvement Store brought to life through a mix of social, digital, traditional and events – reaching our customer at all touch points.”

“In developing this idea, we looked at what it is that IKEA does for its customers – it helps make their lives better with smarter living solutions,’” explained Lars Bastholm, Chief Creative Officer of O&M NY. “A better mattress means a better night’s sleep, a more organized kitchen means more time and efficiency – and from that we came up with the idea that IKEA is The Life Improvement Store.”

The first television ad in the “Made By” campaign shows the enormous range of IKEA products just for the living room through couches and lamps and end tables that flip as voices off stage comment on what kind of furnishings the couples want in their living room. The spot ends with “Made by the Johnsons. Designed by IKEA.” Two additional ads will launch in September/October. Print ads carry the same line and showcase different furnishing options across areas of the home. The Hispanic TV and digital efforts speak directly to the U.S. Hispanic consumer in an insightful and culturally relevant manner.

In addition to the advertising, The Life Improvement Store will be brought to life in mid-September through a series of customer experiences and events developed by global public relations agency Ketchum, agency of record for IKEA consumer PR. These include the launch of a Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest offering one person the opportunity to win a year-long sabbatical* (worth $100,000) to improve the lives of others; a Life Improvement Co-Worker Challenge, a tandem internal contest giving IKEA employees the opportunity to win one of five $10,000 awards to support a local community initiative of their choice; and a series of free Life Improvement Store Seminars for customers, hosted in IKEA stores across the country, with a focus on helping to improve life at home. Ketchum and IKEA previously partnered on the award-winning “Mark Lives in IKEA” program, when comedian Mark Malkoff lived in a Paramus, N.J., IKEA store for one week.

Ogilvy’s new campaign follows an effort launched mid-August to support the IKEA catalog mailing. Email marketing with custom personalized catalog covers was developed by Ogilvy in addition to a television ad and a social media effort through Facebook featuring a quiz. The Facebook quiz, still active, allows people to determine what kind of IKEA furniture they are – another way to show the wide range of IKEA solutions.

Additional social and digital media initiatives are in development for early 2011.

* The grand prize winner is not required to take a leave of absence from work. If the grand prize winner chooses to take leave from employment to work on their project, they can utilize a portion of the prize toward living expenses.