IKEA wraps its new Oxford Street store in a giant FRAKTA bag, then recycles it into totes

IKEA's arrival on Oxford Street was one of the most anticipated retail openings in London, but the store was still under construction and there was no shop window yet to advertise with. The brand's answer treated the building site itself as the media: the site was covered with a huge billboard that was an exact replica of the FRAKTA bag — the blue carrier IKEA's customers have carried for decades — only bigger, bluer and baggier, flying it like a flag over Oxford Street the way any West End retailer would announce itself.

The choice of the FRAKTA was the idea: no logo, no copy and no product shot were needed, because the bag already is IKEA in the minds of its shoppers. Blown up to cover the whole building, the familiar object made the scale of the news obvious — the Swedish retailer was coming to the district's premier shopping street — while echoing the pride the brand took in the store.

The wrap was designed as a temporary structure with a second act: once it came down, it was recycled into limited-edition tote bags given away to shoppers during the store's opening. The project was archived by D&AD under Art Direction, keeping the construction-site billboard as a reference work.