'Happy To Bed' From IKEA, an Online Retail Experience

In the spirit of A Fun Digital Retail Experience: HEMA, I share with you the IKEA Happy To Bed campaign from the UK. Have you come across it yet?

If not, check it out.

Go to IKEA on YouTube UK [p.s., if you scroll down on the YouTube page, you'll come across a video of a pillow fight - also part of the campaign].

Next, you can connect to your Facebook profile, select personas for your room and watch a fun virtual interpretation of what 'happy to bed' would look like for you.

IKEA's press release describes the result as the "first ever personalised 3D showroom on YouTube. Drawing on information from Facebook, IKEA’s tool creates a bespoke 3D bedroom that can then be explored and tailored by users to create their perfect bedroom."

First, I chose to focus on a room for a partner and me, dialed how long we had been together and ... voila! Note the oval on the left: that is where this application selected pictures from my Facebook profile and included them in pictures frames in my virtual bedroom. Very clever.

Next, I decided to focus selfishly just on myself.

I found those results much more interesting, with lots more photos relevant to me: a photo above the headboard, on my laptop screen and on the wall.

For all selections, your perfect IKEA room visualizer comes with items in the room identified. Per the release, you have "the ability to see detailed product information and to click through to IKEA.co.uk to purchase any home furnishings featured within the bedroom."

Furthermore, "The personalised 3D showroom forms part of a wider bedrooms campaign by IKEA and follows a UK wide study of over 2million people into how Britons live life at home. The 3D showroom creates bedroom experiences based on insight drawn from the study including:

• Creating bedrooms that support TV and internet for those most likely to use it.
• Incorporating workspace to reflect the growing trend of working in the bedroom.
• Smart storage solutions to address the decline in living space across the United Kingdom.
• Helping customers see the potential to create a happier space in their bedrooms for a better night’s sleep.

IKEA have used the results as part of a £2.5million investment into redesigning the bedroom roomsets in stores across the country. The redesigns will ensure all IKEA bedroom roomsets are locally relevant, specifically reflect the way people live their life at home and showcase the solutions that help people go to bed happy."

I found the "Happy To Bed" IKEA online retail experience absolutely fascinating and enjoyed interacting with it.

The personal touches, in particular, are brilliant! So much so that I wanted to spend more time with them. The flash video format allows you to watch the video, but not to rewind or go back or slow down the viewing. The only way to repeat the viewing is by starting all over again and rebuilding one's room. Couldn't this be a rewindable video?

I love that IKEA has taken research about consumer trends to develop rooms relevant to local preferences and would love to know how the program is affecting sales of these various bedroom products.

Here are a few other perspectives on IKEA's "Happy To Bed" YouTube social experience. You'll notice some issues linking the detailed product information to the purchase process:

• From Digital Buzz Blog: IKEA Happy To Bed: YouTube Social Experience
• From Great Ads Blog: Ikea Happy To Bed Advert
• From We Are Magnetic Blog: IKEA Happy To Bed

What is your reaction to 'Happy To Bed'? As a consumer as well as a retailer? What do you like and not like?

Let me know in the comments!

P.S.: 'Happy To Bed' is best viewed in Firefox. It has issues in Chrome.