Creating a retail splash with Facebook courtesy of IKEA

Credit to the Forsman & Bodenfors agency in Sweden for coming up with this Facebook promotion for a new IKEA store. It’s almost a textbook example of using a social platform (Facebook), viral features and behaviors (photo tagging, link sharing, etc.), and a time-tested retail promotional trick (free product giveaways, “first-come, first-served! Hurry!”).

The only downside of this is I can’t see it having staying power – it’s a fantastic campaign to create a short-lived storm of attention and buzz, with a bit of media coverage after the fact, but once all the products are given away there doesn’t appear to be any hook for people to stay engaged.

But honestly, that’s a small downside, especially given the agency’s mandate was to promote the opening of a new retail store. Short-term buzz is perfect there, and again, this looks like an excellent social media campaign. The video case study below walks you through it.

Update: Mashable just wrote this up as well.