The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
JD fakes IKEA store openings so the real one happens online
In cities that have no IKEA, JD erects 'new store opening' hoardings; turn the corner and the reveal reads 'but not here — on JD'.
JD.com (京东)
What it had to solve
IKEA had stores in only 29 of China's 694 cities, and people elsewhere kept asking when their city would get one. When IKEA finally launched inside JD's marketplace in August 2025, JD needed more than a routine e-commerce announcement — it wanted the launch to feel like an event.
How it works
Of China's 694 cities, only 29 had an IKEA store, and people in the other 665 kept asking when one would open near them. When IKEA finally arrived on JD's marketplace on 8 August 2025, the challenge was making a routine 'brand joins a platform' moment feel worth noticing.
Zoushen OGK's answer turned the most familiar retail signal into the medium: in cities without IKEA — Shijiazhuang, Luoyang, Changchun and Zhuhai among them — JD put up red corner hoardings announcing 'IKEA new store, opening soon'. Anyone walking past saw exactly what they had been waiting for; anyone who turned the corner found the second half of the sentence: 'But not here. On JD.'
The hoarding's two-sided structure made passers-by the campaign's distributors: locals filmed the fake openings before construction was finished and debated them on Xiaohongshu. Overall exposure passed 220 million with more than 450,000 interactions, the supporting film drew 17.4 million plays, and on opening day IKEA's JD store took first place in the furniture category for views, sales and membership growth — on what the agency describes as a very small budget.
Why it lands
- A 'store opening' hoarding is instantly believed, so the first half of the message carried real anticipation instead of advertising scepticism.
- Putting the reveal on the other side of the corner forced people to walk around and complete the joke themselves.
- Cities without IKEA supplied genuine longing, so locals photographed and shared the hoardings without being asked.
- Faking openings offline focused all the excitement on the online store, turning street buzz into launch-day sales.
What it did
The stunt drew 220 million-plus exposures and 450,000-plus interactions, with more than 5,300 Xiaohongshu posts and 17.4 million plays of the supporting film. On launch day IKEA's JD store ranked first in the furniture category for views, sales and membership growth, beating the client's target on a deliberately small budget.
What you can take
Borrow the most trusted local signal of a store arriving — the construction hoarding — and make the reveal itself the ad; the joke only works because the expectation is real.
Since then
The campaign closed its first act on 8 August with IKEA's JD store leading the furniture category, and the case kept earning after that: it won a gold in Outdoor at the 2025 DAwards along with silvers in event, media and integrated marketing, and ad industry write-ups cited it as a model of low-budget outdoor work. For JD it became a repeatable pattern of borrowing another brand's cultural weight to make a platform launch feel like a real-world event.
Sources
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