Tag: iPad

IKEA Klippbok

IKEA Australia wanted to create a utility that IKEA customers could regularly use to help inspire them in their home. So they created an iPad app called Klippbok (Swedish for “scrapbook”) that gave users access to IKEA products all year round. With easy-to-use design functionality, users were able to mix and match IKEA products and create collages, swatchbooks, roomsets and more.

Making inspiration feel hands-on, not aspirational

The mechanism is straightforward. You drag IKEA products into a blank canvas, experiment with combinations, and build a visual “plan” you can refine over time. It takes the part people enjoy most in-store, imagining how it could look at home, and makes it repeatable on a device.

In retail marketing, the strongest “always-on” utilities are the ones that turn browsing into making.

Why the scrapbook metaphor is the right UX

Calling it a scrapbook is not just a name. It sets expectations. This is playful, remixable, and personal. That framing lowers the pressure of “designing a room” and replaces it with “trying ideas”, which is a much easier behavior to sustain.

It also makes sharing feel natural. If you build a collage or roomset, the next instinct is to show someone and get a second opinion. That social loop is what turns a private tool into a brand platform.

Business intent: stay present between store visits

Klippbok’s real job is frequency. Instead of only showing up when a catalogue drops or when someone is already planning a store run, the app gives IKEA a year-round touchpoint that keeps products in consideration while customers are still forming preferences.

Reported outcomes and craft credits

The app was created by The Monkeys and built by Nomad. In industry reporting around the work, Klippbok is credited with roughly 53,000 downloads across 100+ countries and reaching number two in the Australian iTunes Lifestyle category.

What to steal if you want customers to return regularly

  • Turn your range into a creative system. Let people assemble, not just browse.
  • Design for quick wins. Fast collages beat perfect room planners for repeat usage.
  • Make sharing a native next step. If “show someone” is easy, your users do your distribution.
  • Build for year-round relevance. Inspiration tools age better than campaign landing pages.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Klippbok, in plain terms?

Klippbok is an IKEA iPad app that lets people create mood boards, collages, swatchbooks, and roomsets using IKEA products, so they can plan and experiment with home ideas.

Why does an inspiration app matter for a retailer like IKEA?

Because the purchase journey is rarely one session. If you can keep customers playing with ideas between store visits, you stay in the consideration set longer and influence what ends up on the shopping list.

What is the key mechanism that drives engagement?

Drag-and-drop creation. The user is making something of their own, not consuming content, which increases time spent and makes sharing more likely.

What is the biggest mistake with “catalogue as app” launches?

Copying print into a screen. The app has to behave like a tool, not a PDF, or it will not earn repeat use.

How do you measure whether an inspiration app is working?

Return frequency, creation rate, share rate, and the percentage of users who save or revisit projects. If you can connect it, track downstream indicators like store visits or product adds-to-list after app sessions.

AR in 2013: Three Retail-Ready Examples

Augmented Reality in 2013: when the real world becomes the interface

With smartphones and tablets becoming part of our everyday life, we also see more augmented reality apps mixing the virtual and the real world in 2013. Here are some examples from ARworks that recently caught my eye.

Audi Singapore Showroom app

For the opening of their biggest showroom in South-East Asia, Audi created AR experiences that allowed visitors to fly around the showroom building without actually boarding a plane, or drive the Audi R18 race car around Singapore at full speed without the risk of getting a ticket. What’s more, they even allowed visitors to personalize their individual license plates and then take photos with the car.

Dakar race in a shopping mall

A real Dakar desert racecourse was built for the new Opel Mokka on a 4mtrs long table that was placed in a shopping mall. Visitors could use the provided iPads to race against time and each other. The results were then shared on Facebook, and the weekly and overall winners received various prizes.

Christmas Ornament Sling

Deutsche Telekom, for their Christmas promotion, developed an iPad app where visitors could throw virtual Christmas ornaments containing their personal message onto a huge Christmas tree erected in a mall. A successful hit to one of the real ornaments on the tree lit it up through an integrated server application.

The pattern across all three: AR turns “watching” into doing

None of these examples treat AR as a gimmick. Each one uses the device as a bridge between curiosity and action. You explore a building. You race a course. You aim a message at a real tree. The screen stops being a place to consume. It becomes a tool to participate.

In retail and shopper environments, augmented reality works best when it turns a physical setup into a simple, repeatable action loop for the visitor.

Why retail is the natural habitat for AR

Retail already has the ingredients. Footfall, dwell time, and physical objects that can anchor the experience. AR simply adds a layer of viewer control. The visitor decides where to look, what to try, and what to share.

What’s really being built here

These are not “apps.” They are engagement machines. Each one creates a clear reason to interact, a clear reward for completing the action, and a clear path to share or repeat. That is how you turn novelty into behavior.

What to steal for your next AR build

  • Anchor the experience to a physical object people can gather around. A showroom, a tabletop course, a tree.
  • Give the visitor a simple verb. Fly, drive, race, sling. Actions beat features.
  • Design a payoff. A photo, a score, a lit ornament. Make the outcome tangible.
  • Make sharing a natural by-product of the activity, not a forced button at the end.

A few fast answers before you act

What makes these 2013 AR examples feel “ready” for real audiences?

They are built around clear actions and clear rewards. The device is used to do something in the physical environment, not just view an overlay.

Which devices are central to these activations?

Tablets and phones. The examples explicitly reference iPads and handheld devices as the delivery mechanism for the AR interaction.

What role does sharing play in these concepts?

Sharing is tied to the activity. Photos with the car, results shared on Facebook, and personal messages sent as virtual ornaments.

What is the common mechanic across the three examples?

Using the camera-enabled device as a controller that links a real-world setup to a virtual experience, giving the viewer control over exploration and interaction.

Volkswagen #Polowers: Tweet-Powered Race

Volkswagen Polo is one of the most desired cars amongst the youth of Spain. To make a big entry DDB Spain created a Tweet based race that would make VW Polo the most trending topic on Twitter for that day.

A special hashtag #Polowers was created in order to give a name to the VW Polo Followers. Then to generate conversation amongst the Polowers a race was setup where each tweet took the follower to the first position.

When the Polo stopped at one of the 5 designated stops, the follower in the first position at that time would win a prize, iPad, Denon Ceol music system, Leica D-Lux 5 camera, VW Bike and eventually the grand prize VW Polo itself.

In terms of results, the campaign generated more than 150,000 tweets in 8 hours after launching, at a rate of 5 tweets per second and reached more than 10% of Twitter’s total audience in Spain. It also became the leading Top 10 trending topic and generated a record breaking amount of traffic to Polo’s product section on Volkswagen.es.

Last year Mercedes-Benz had created a tweet based race that had real life cars fueled by tweets. Check out that campaign here.

Why this mechanic works

This is a clean real-time loop. Tweeting is the action. Rank is the feedback. Prizes are the incentive. The “race” gives people a reason to keep going, because every new tweet can change the leader.

  • Identity creates belonging. #Polowers turns followers into a named group.
  • Progress is instant. One tweet changes position immediately.
  • Time pressure drives volume. Five stops create multiple “now” moments.
  • Reward cadence sustains momentum. Smaller prizes build toward the grand prize.

What to take from this if you run social campaigns

  1. Design a loop that explains itself. If the rule fits in one sentence, participation scales.
  2. Make the scoreboard the content. Rankings create a story people want to influence.
  3. Use milestones. Stops and deadlines create peaks instead of a flat timeline.
  4. Measure beyond buzz. Here the campaign also drove traffic to the Polo product section, not just tweets.

A few fast answers before you act

What was Volkswagen #Polowers?

It was a tweet-based race in Spain where participants used the #Polowers hashtag, and tweeting moved them into first position in a live competition for prizes and a chance to win a VW Polo.

How did the prize mechanic work?

When the Polo stopped at one of five designated stops, the follower in first position at that moment won a prize. The grand prize was a VW Polo.

What were the reported results?

More than 150,000 tweets in 8 hours, around 5 tweets per second, reaching more than 10% of Twitter’s total audience in Spain, plus Top 10 trending status and record traffic to Volkswagen.es Polo pages.

Why did the hashtag matter?

#Polowers gave the community a name and made participation visible, searchable, and easy to join.

What is the transferable lesson?

If you turn a simple action into a live competition with clear milestones and meaningful rewards, social participation can compound quickly.