Restaurant chain Subway is poking fun at the grand opening of Ikea’s new flagship Oxford Street store by issuing a rather risqué tongue-in-cheek challenge.

In a bid to hijack the hype around the Swedish brand’s glitzy new London location, Subway has initiated a ‘battle of the balls’ with Ikea – which famously serves meatballs across many of its stores.

The US chain’s guerrilla-style PR and social media activation is designed to remind the public who has ‘the biggest balls on Oxford Street’, by giving away vouchers for free 6” Meatbäll Marinara Subs to homeware shoppers.

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Devised by London-based creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, the activation was brought to life by social media agency Fabric and PR agency Taylor Herring.

The Ikea-inspired vouchers were supported by in-restaurant signage playfully poking fun at flat-pack furniture culture with instructions demonstrating how the Meatbäll Marinara is built.

The campaign comes after retailer John Lewis referenced Ikea – its “new Swedish neighbours” – in an execution that uses the strapline ‘Knowing you prefer quality to an allen key’.