• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 5, 2008

It's taken 23 years, but New York City is finally about to get its own Ikea, and the Swedish retailer is pulling out all the stops in its new-store campaign.

Scheduled to open in Brooklyn's Red Hook on June 18, a spokesperson tells Marketing Daily that the company is running a campaign from June 9 through June 30, from agency Deutsch NY. The campaign, the company says in a release, focuses on "affordability, recognition of small-space living and an appreciation of multiple transit options."

Because the store's marketing positioning depends so heavily on the many ways that New Yorkers can get to the store, transit advertising--even wrapping Ikea shuttles and New York water taxis--is also part of the effort. (For years, New Yorkers on the prowl for $300 couches have had to schlep to suburban Long Island and New Jersey.)

It's also sculpted ginormous versions of New York landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building, out of its flat-pack boxes--some as long as 96 feet and 21 feet tall, using more 1,000 boxes--to use in TV ads. The sculptures will be displayed near the store, which includes more than six acres of waterfront esplanade.

The company is also installing cardboard pop-up rooms, fully furnished, at such city landmarks as Union Square in Manhattan, and Brooklyn's Borough Hall, Public Library, and Cadman Plaza.

The campaign includes radio, projection media, pizza delivery boxes, and phone kiosks.