Two days ago, AstroBanana received an invitation out of the blue via a comment on this very blog itself. Apparently, it was posted by "Karen" from IKEA Singapore who invited them for the media launch of the Singapore edition of the IKEA Catalogue 2010. After verifying that it was not a hoax and that there really is a “Karen”, AstroBanana accepted the invitation happily and showed up for the media launch at the Botanic Gardens this evening.
The theme of the launch was tied to nature, which explained the venue. As AstroBanana approached the reception counter, they were asked for their namecards, probably to verify that they were really members of the press. In such a situation, Eric Banana’s first instinct was to turn around and make his escape. Fortunately, an IKEA staff member recognised them and went, “Oh I know who you are.. you are Eric Banana, and you are Astro Girl!” Then some other staff members also seemed to kinda recognise them – “No wonder you look so familiar.” Hmmm... Anyway, AstroBanana got to meet Karen , who is IKEA Singapore’s Assistant Manager for Public Relations. She was a really nice and friendly gal!
The event started with a presentation by Lars Svensson, the Country Marketing Manager for IKEA Singapore. As he talked about the upcoming catalogue, he mentioned how some Singaporeans are really excited about it… and to AstroBanana’s horror, they saw their faces on the screen - it was a screenshot of their blog. Lars was trying to illustrate that bloggers’ opinions do matter in today’s context - as it turned out, a colleague in IKEA’s headquarters in Sweden had come across AstroBanana’s entry about the upcoming IKEA catalogue and alerted the folks at IKEA Singapore, who then decided to fulfill their wishes by inviting them for the media launch. Lars also quoted an extract from Eric Banana’s blog entry (the second last paragraph).
Next, AstroBanana got to preview some of the new products in the IKEA PS collection. Each product was placed next to a tree species. During their short walk in the Botanic Gardens, they got to find out more about the tree species from Jenny Chua, a horticulturist who works in the Botanic Gardens. After Jenny’s introduction at each juncture, Lars gave a good background on the new IKEA PS products.
Of course, AstroBanana took the opportunity to take some photos with Karen and Lars:
Since every IKEA staff member they met seems to have read their blog, AstroBanana would like to thank them again for inviting to the event and making them feel at home. Congrats on a job well-done!
And yes, AstroBanana are now the proud owners of a jumbo-sized IKEA Catalogue 2010 (limited edition, with only 1,000 copies in print) and they get to read it two days before the rest of the general population.
To get a feel of how big the jumbo-size 2010 catalogue is, here's a picture comparing it to the normal-size 2009 catalogue:
In addition to the limited-edition catalogue, AstroBanana's event passes will also allow them to obtain a one-time 15% media rebate on their purchases in the month of August. Whee!
Eric Banana really did not expect IKEA to contact him. Astro Girl was really funny though - "How come you blog so much about Tiffany but they never invite you for any media launch?" Eric Banana's only response to that - "Business too big and too good liao lor."
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6 comments:
haha...the power of blogs and the new media... =p
HAHAHA... Amazing! You two are famous now. That decision to put the big pics up some time back? Very good!
The catalogue looks huge... you two must be poring over it and "drooling" like crazy.
Set up of the Ikea launch looks very nice.
Seriously ... how big is that catalogue? Do Swedish people google everyday with key words like "IKEA 2010 Catalogue" to see how many people wrote about it in their blogs? hmmmmm
If they do, i wouldn't be surprised. There's a whole lot of research out there on building online presences. People use google to keep tabs on how often they get 'googled', number of hits on their webpages, and how easily (number of clicks it takes) people can find them online.
brownie points to IKEA for a targeted marketing strategy. They probably present-valued all the purchases you'd both make as a new couple and organized the entire event for you. The rest of the people was gravy.
i love ikea
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