Ikea for rent

So I was browsing Ikea's website the other day and came across a YouTube video of Mark Malkov, a comedian/filmmaker whose apartment was being fumigated and needed a place to live. Apartment from my amazement over the negotiation skills this man must have, I was impressed that Ikea recognized what a great marketing tool this would be for them and also that this marketing was done essentially by Mark through his videoblogs and SNSs.

I checked out Mark's video diary of his experience and (thanks to this class) wasn't surprised to see that his video's were hosted by YouTube and he had both his MySpace and Facebook links so we could add ourselves as his friends and recommend his site to our friends.

Mark's video project, and the interest and attention he (and Ikea) received because of it (the webpage received over a million hits) illustrates how effective and how powerful social networking sites and viral marketing are in today's society. Businesses and organizations who haven't explored or considered them as powerful tools would be wise to look at what Ikea and Mark did in one week and capitalize on the evolution of the customer/business experience.