No, it’s not about the pure earworm of a song from the viral anime Chiikawa. It is about IKEA’s latest event of actual in-store PJ gatherings across the globe, including in Shanghai. For the upcoming FY2025, IKEA has announced a new initiative and business theme of improving sleep.
To raise awareness of the initiative, IKEA organised a 2,052-people party with all participants wearing two-piece pyjamas at its store in Älmhult, Sweden on 28 August. The participants, notably, are all IKEA employees. This event, according to IKEA, broke the Guinness World Record. It then brought the event to China.
Titled The Goodnight Club, the event will be held at a special area near the car park at the Beicai IKEA shop in Shanghai. With atmospheric neon lighting and bed-themed installations, the event provides “six essentials towards better sleep” including comfort, furnishings, temperature, lighting, sound and air quality. The event will be held between 31 August to 15 September (excluding 5 Sept), between 11 AM and 9 PM.
IKEA has also been posting sleep-assisting content on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, including ASMR videos, a collaboration playlist with NetEase Music and ads for its bedroom collections under the hashtag “Wake up, time to have a good sleep” (#醒醒该睡个好觉了#), which has a moderate 1.45 million views on the platform.
According to IKEA’s Life at Home report from 2023, 55% of people see sleeping as the healthiest activity at home, for both mental and physical health. However, in the fast-paced society of today, many cannot ensure sufficient sleep. IKEA observed that during FY2024, bedroom and bedding items were in high demand. IKEA’s inclusion of China in its global initiative strengthens its position as a global brand. But its sleep-related collection also includes over 10 localised China-exclusive items like coconut coir mattresses. The campaign is another example of IKEA’s glocalisation strategy in China.
