From 10 to 24 March 2010, if you step into a metro station in Paris, you can relax in a loungeroom setting whilst waiting for your train – what could be a more pleasant metro installation?

IKEA has developed a new experimental marketing campaign to showcase the current furniture collection by displaying the range in high-traffic spots, giving the potential customers a chance to interact with the brand by actually sitting on the product.

Paris’ St. Lazare, Champs-Elysées Clémenceau, Concorde, and Opéra subway stations have been “invaded,” or so says the brand. The concept behind the campaign is akin to a test drive. Passengers in transit can, via the “bum test,” experiment with the comfort and durability of IKEA’s Ektorp and Kalstad couches and Brasa floor lamps. Agence 14 Septembre, a communications group that specializes in architecture and design, collaborated with IKEA on the experiential initiative.