MSF saves lives in the most vulnerable places worldwide. Last year, the organisation provided 1,264,500 emergency room admissions, serving the needs of more than one million patients worldwide.

Unfortunately, this giant humanitarian organization has little visibility in the GCC – a region that can be a key contributor in terms of donations, and help expand the reach of MSF. To increase awareness about what MSF does as well as get people to contribute to the cause, a unique activation was carried out in IKEA.

The objective behind the Giving Room initiative was to highlight how MSF is battling the lack of medical resources in vulnerable zones.

The idea was to highlight the lack of medical resources in vulnerable zones in a place where people least expected to see it.

In an age of instant information and endless scrolling, people are often left unmoved. Which is why we adopted a strategy not only to surprise but also engage. By a dramatic representation of a worldwide humanitarian issue, we made sure of the fact that people took notice.

We recreated a replica of a MSF field hospital room inside IKEA. Where people learnt heartbreaking truths about the obstacles to providing medical aid all around the world. An innovative as well as interactive customer journey in a typical IKEA brand design language. This involved installations, posters, manuals, stickers and tags that highlighted precise amounts that shoppers could pay towards specific medical equipment. Payments could be made by simply scanning a QR code.

The results were really heartening. The month-long campaign grabbed eyeballs throughout December. As per YouGov, IKEA saw the largest growth in ad awareness in the UAE. The campaign had a reach of over 12m. Earned media was more than AED 3.5m. The initiative resulted in generous donations of more than AED 500,000 (in-kind donations).