Ikea gets an ultimate citizen marketer: Man who moves into the store

When Mark Malkoff learned he needed to find a new place to live for a week because his apartment was being fumigated, he turned to Ikea and asked the Swedish furniture giant if he could move in. According to the Washington Post, "Ikea was dubious at first, but once they got to know Malkoff -- realized what squeaky, G-rated videos he made and what a good, unpaid spokesman he'd be -- they opened the doors and made a little placard reading "Mark's Apartment" to go outside his living space". Sounds like they realized what a great citizen marketer Mark would make.

You can follow Mark's adventures at Ikea on the Mark lives in Ikea website. Here's the first episode:

Ikea launches major social media project

Looks like Ikea has decided to go web 2.0 with the America at Home initiative they announced today. The project is dubbed a "collaborative photo event" and invites Internet users to upload pictures that capture the "emotions of home". Judging from their FAQ, the America at Home project is designed to support a major new branding campaign entitled, "Home is the Most Important Place in the World." Both HP (Snapfish) and Google are providing technical support for this project.