IKEA’s new campaign puts the spotlight on quality – but what do consumers think?

IKEA, the Swedish flatpack furniture giant, recently launched a campaign that purposefully hides its prices. It’s not a move that one would intuitively associate with a budget brand, but that is perhaps the point – the ads aim to highlight the quality of the retailer’s goods, all at a price point the consumer “wouldn’t believe”.

A different approach to a marketing campaign, for sure, and one that highlights an area of under-sung strength for the retailer. YouGov BrandIndex data shows that IKEA – newly-minted as the country’s second healthiest brand in YouGov’s annual Best Brand Rankings – is indeed strongly associated with value: measures tracking the homeware retailer’s overall bang for buck sit at 49.0, more than seven times higher than the sector average of 6.6. But IKEA’s products are also generally considered to be of a better-than-average standard. Quality scores sit at 35.4 for the brand: more than three times the average for its industry of 11.2.  – is indeed strongly associated with value: measures tracking the homeware retailer’s overall bang for buck sit at 49.0, more than seven times higher than the sector average of 6.6. But IKEA’s products are also generally considered to be of a better-than-average standard. Quality scores sit at 35.4 for the brand: more than three times the average for its industry of 11.2.

Audience commentary from YouGov BrandIndex Voices emphasises this point further. One panelist remarked that, compared to competitors, IKEA furniture offered “an equivalent price, but better quality once built.” Another said that whenever they buy, they can be sure that the price “will not be inflated”. This positive sentiment may carry forward into other metrics: Impression scores, which track whether consumers have a good or poor opinion of a brand overall, are at 54.9 compared to an average of 13.1, and Satisfaction scores (54.2 vs. 11.8) and Recommend scores (48.8 vs. 10.2) tell a similar story. Perhaps most tellingly, IKEA’s Consideration scores, which asks consumers whether they would choose one brand over another the next time they are in the market for a particular product, are 51.0; the industry average is 12.4.

By playing with the brand’s image as a value retailer, the new campaign reinforces its appeal to budget consumers, while emphasising the other aspects of its offering. Above all, it demonstrates that IKEA doesn’t have to choose between emphasising quality or value:  for the most part, the public believe it offers both.

This article originally appeared in City A.M.

BrandIndex methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. IKEA's Index score is an average of Impression, Value, Quality, Satisfaction, and Recommend scores. Index score is reported as net scores from –100 to +100, based on daily surveys of U.K. adults.

YouGov BrandIndex Voices methodology: Qualitative analysis for IKEA comes from YouGov BrandIndex Voices. AI-powered interview conversations and analysis uncover the ‘why’ behind consumer opinion and explore the themes that consumers want to talk about. Responses were collected from a minimum of 100 adults in the U.K. who have a positive impression of the brand between January 2-9, 2026. This analysis was completed with AI, AI can make mistakes.

Image: Getty