Submitted by OgilvyAgency IPI Score 95/100

Buy With Your Time

Social Media Marketing

Memac Ogilvy Dubai turned IKEA shoppers' past travel time into in-store currency using Google Maps timeline, rewarding loyal customers for the long trips they had already made.

Case in 60 seconds

IKEA's Dubai stores sit far from the city centres, so shopping there is a long, effortful trip, and the brand wanted to recognise the loyalty of customers who kept making it while marking a second store opening.

The time customers had already spent travelling to IKEA was a measurable investment sitting in their own Google Maps timeline history.

Turn that accumulated travel time into a currency customers could spend on IKEA products, reframing distance as a reward rather than a barrier.

Memac Ogilvy Dubai built an activation on Google Maps timeline where customers submitted the minutes from past IKEA trips, which were converted into a monetary value based on Dubai's average salary and spent in store.

No quantitative outcomes are published on the agency page; the work is presented as a conceptual loyalty activation. Detail is self-reported and not independently verified.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Loyal IKEA customers in Dubai who travel long distances to reach the stores and had shown commitment through that effort.
IKEA's out-of-town locations turn a shopping trip into a time-consuming journey that could read as a barrier to visiting.
The brief needed to reframe distance and travel time as a strength and a reason to reward customers, rather than a friction to apologise for.
IKEA positioned itself as a brand that takes customer loyalty seriously, opening a second Dubai store to shorten trips and thanking customers for the ones they had already made.
Giving people credit for effort they have already spent, priced against a real local wage, makes a loyalty gesture feel earned and concrete.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Google Maps timeline data activation
  • In-store redemption of time-based currency

Partners

  • Ogilvy (Memac Ogilvy Dubai)

Participation mechanic

  • Customers opened their Google Maps timeline, found past IKEA trips, and submitted the total travel minutes to convert into spendable value

Creator role

  • Not disclosed

Why Ogilvy's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Reframing a category friction, the long trip to the store, as proof of loyalty gave the brand a reason to reward rather than apologise.

  2. 2

    Building on data customers already had in Google Maps kept the barrier to entry low, with no new app or signup required.

  3. 3

    Pricing travel time against Dubai's average salary made an abstract loyalty gesture feel concrete and earned.

  4. 4

    Tying the activation to a second store opening connected a creative idea to a real business moment.

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