Ikea's new catalogue ~ a disappointing experience

Who doesn't love browsing through Ikea catalogues; dreaming of the day you have a home to furnish with Swedish design (with the house prices in Vancouver, you'll certainly be dreaming for a long time!). It was with great interest that I read an article on Marketing Mag about Ikea's new interactive catalogue. 

With the new catalogue, users can download an app on their smart phone or tablet. In the top right corner of certain pages in the catalogue is a mobile symbol. By activating the app and holding it over the catalogue users see additional content, such as different furniture designs, different paint colours, and so on.

The Ikea Catalogue App in action ~ Image courtesy of Gadget Lab

On the day I read the article, I receive the new Ikea catalogue in the mail. I downloaded the app, held it over the page, and waited. Nothing happened! Hmm.... read instructions, tried again... nothing. Tried another page. I watched the choppy image as I slowly scanned the page, and suddenly a new image appeared. I had to hold the phone still over a very small section of page to see anything. Deflated, I gave up.

The challenge for companies is to come up with ways to use technology to interact with the customer in unique ways. Ikea came up with the idea, but the execution was poor. In 2012, consumers expect nearly flawless technology, and have little patience when things don't work as advertised. If your execution is poor, and consumers disappointed, your idea becomes a waste of money. 

Although I will still shop there in the future, I am disappointed with Ikea's execution of this app. I doubt the poor execution will result in lower sales, but it's unlikely to produce any surge. What could Ikea have done differently? They could have used QR codes to unlock extra content, or trialed the app on their specialty catalogues, such as the mattress catalogue, first. 

Did you try the new Ikea catalogue app? What was your experience? Has it changed your perceptions of Ikea? What do you think Ikea could have done differently?

Social Media Tracking Tools

McDonalds recently set up a webpage called "Our Food, Your Questions"; Canadians are invited to pose questions about McDonalds food, which are answered by a representative. The aim of this campaign is to dispel myths around McDonalds food. In response to the question "Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store?", McDonalds released the video below explaining the food photographing process. 

I was interested to see whether this video changed opinions surrounding McDonalds foods. To measure this, I found a number of online reports on the video. A selection of comments were taken and rated based on their sentiment towards campaign, not towards McDonalds itself. The comments +1 for positive, 0 for neutral, and -1 for negative. 


Here are a selection of comments from the thestar.com:

So does every other food shot: This is a common practice for food photographs; there are food stylists who strive to make their food "edible". but the majority of the food in shots can't be eaten. Stop the McD hate.

Score: +1


and "drum roll"..... Crap is still crap no matter how you dress it up... but so nice to see how they dress the crap... Score: -1Dishonest - How lovely to have an inside view into the business of lying to your customers.Score: -1 (this comment is interpreted as sarcasm)McDonald's vs Subway - McDonald's advertising photos look a lot closer to what you're served, compared to Subway...Score: +1Good for McDonald's - It's not like people are going to stop buying their products if they reveal why their burgers in commercials look better than in real life.Score: +1Good for them - Be honest and show people why. NO need to hide the truth.Score: +1Here are a selection of comments from Twitter:@lindsaysherry - Don't know if this was a good idea #mcdonalds - http://t.co/velfTxT9Score: -1@Budd_Dwyers_Bag - I love everything about this story. Especially the awkcent of the presenter htt://t/co/fuY6Bnh4 #imlovingit #thisiswhywerefat #mcdonalds Score: +1@leannmifsud - "@TorontoStar @McDonalds #AdvertisignSecrets http://t.co/mJCI2cN Still want a Big Mac?" Yes... Yes I do.Score: +1@tifutifers - "@TorontoStar: Melting cheese w/a blow dryer and other @McDonalds #advertising secrets: http://t.co/AgSAdWV5" bold+smart move by @McDonaldsScore: +1Overall Score: +4
From these comments, it appears McDonalds has been successful with their campaign. Some praise McDonalds for being honest and answering the question, even if they wouldn't eat at McDonalds themselves, whereas others seem to harbour a negative attitude towards McDonalds that cannot be undone by one video alone. The conclusion from this analysis shows that the campaign has been successful in improving attitudes towards their food, but more work is needed to improve the company image.What do you think? How do you feel after watching the video? Do you think that McDonalds has been successful with their new, behind the scenes approach?