Ikea has had a store in San Diego since 2000, and even if it decides to put up another, it won’t debut until 2010. So I wonder why it decided to distribute 760,000 catalogs in San Diego county, more catalogs than Ikea has ever pumped into a market, and set up furniture displays in ten public spaces?

San Diego Business Journal Online: Ikea furnishings turn up in unlikely places for "fabulous" campaign, 2006-Jul-31, Jessica Long

Small signage with the Ikea logo and the saying “A good design can help make everyday life a little better” was included. No person-to-person marketing tactics were employed.
Most of the displays were kept in place seemingly unsupervised for at least a couple of hours, [Ikea San Diego marketing manager Toni] Banuelos said. In some cases, while representatives for Ikea watched from a distance, notes were left giving passers-by permission to take certain pieces home. But surprisingly, Banuelos said, people repeatedly appeared reluctant to disturb the scenes.
“The idea … actually came from New York,” Banuelos said. “The Ikea stores did it there and it was so successful, we decided to bring it here to San Diego.”