IKEA Belgium lets customers "Pay with a sock" in new campaign by Ogilvy Social.Lab
UPDATE 18/9/2026 - To kick off a new year dedicated to smart home organisation, IKEA Belgium introduced an unconventional currency: the lonely sock. Developed by Ogilvy Social.Lab (OSL) in collaboration with OONA/BAAS, Akkanto and Mindshare, the "Pay with a sock" campaign tackles the psychological toll of domestic clutter in an unexpected way.
The strategy was rooted in data from the IKEA Life at Home report and a Country Report, both conducted by YouGov: research showed that 35% of people feel that an organised home supports their well-being. 20% find that having the right space for their needs and belongings helps them experience control over life at home.
Rather than focusing purely on functional storage furniture, the campaign highlighted the mental space that physical clutter occupies. The creative idea, developed by Ogilvy Social.Lab, centred on the universal annoyance of a single, unmatched sock. While this sock only weighs a few grams, it can become a heavy, daily reminder of household disorganisation. The sock showcases the symbol for procrastination and the mental friction caused by small everyday clutter. Getting rid of it serves as a symbolic first step toward decluttering both the home and the mind.
The campaign led up to a nationwide in-store activation on September 5. Customers were invited to any of the eight IKEA stores in Belgium, to bring a lonely sock, and to throw it into a giant laundry basket. In exchange, they received a scratch card for a chance to win gift vouchers worth €5, €10, €20, €100, or €500, PÄRKLA storage bags, or SAMLA storage boxes.
The 360-degree rollout included:
- Digital & Social: A 30-second manifesto film and social cutdowns featuring relatable, UGC-style content of lonely socks abandoned in various places.
- In-store: Giant laundry basket supported by bold posters explaining the mechanics of the September 5-activation.
- Influencer & Content: Influencers introducing the activation by sharing personal stories on how even small things at home can have an impact on how you feel and how tidying up just one small item, like a lonely sock, can already create more mental space.
- PR: Send-out of 2 press releases. The first one announcing the kick-off and the second one elaborating on the IKEA Life at Home report & the Country Report, both conducted by YouGov. Local press was also invited to visit IKEA during the activation.
- DPG Radio Collaborations: 2 radio collaborations with Q-Music (Flanders) and Radio Contact (Brussels/Wallonia). During the morning shows the radio stations talked about the activation, with Radio Contact even broadcasting from an IKEA store the day before the activation.
- CRM: 2 newsletters sent out to IKEA Family members to invite them to come to IKEA on September 5, and 1 newsletter was sent out after the event.
The campaign connected a highly relatable human truth to the core expertise of IKEA in storage, proving that a small, 30-gram decision can spark a larger journey toward well-being at home.
And that journey extended beyond the individual. The activation proved highly successful, with 232 kilograms of lonely socks collected across Belgium. The socks will be sent to L'Ouvroir, a non-profit employing people with disabilities, to be upcycled into door snakes to keep out drafts. These will then be gifted for Christmas to associations partnering with IKEA’s “Welcome Home” initiative, a program supporting single-parent families in accessing decent housing.
Credits
Ogilvy Social.Lab & partners
- Executive Creative Director: Jérémie Goldwasser (OSL)
- Creatives: Ramin Afshar, Danny Vissers, Marine Quéré & Clementine Bailly (OSL)
- Group Account Director: Stephanie Torfs (OSL)
- Account Manager: Louise Laes (OSL)
- Graphic & Motion Design: Xavier Vanderplancke (OSL)
- Strategy Director: Alex Hardouin (OSL)
- Agency Producer: Caroline Van Ranst & Ingeborg Van Hoof (VML)
- Production: François Chandelle & Pierre Heymans (Lovo Films)
- Director: Guillaume Zhang (Lovo Films)
- DOP/Photographer: Fred Labeye (Lovo Films)
- Media: Alessa Vancottem, Sabine Loewenstein & Sophie Delacre (Mindshare)
- Influencer agency: Isis Van Loon & Mallika D’Huys (OONA/BAAS)
- PR Agency: Thomas Debrock (Akkanto)
Client IKEA Belgium:
- Country Marketing Manager: Aline Driesen
- Marketing Communications Manager: Peter Jongert
- Marketing Communications Specialist: Barbara Verbeeck
- Integrated Media Manager: Céline Smidts
- Integrated Media Leader: Damien Perry
- Customer Engagement & Loyalty Manager: Julie Mexence
- Customer Engagement & Loyalty Leader: Gregory Jacques
- Public Relations Leader: Lotte De Wilde
- Commercial PR Specialist: Jelena Janssens