Cannes Lions honours Ikea with advertiser of the year award

Cannes Lions honours Ikea with advertiser of the year award

Cannes

MUMBAI: Swedish home furnishing retail company, IKEA, will receive the prestigious Advertiser of the Year Award at the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, to be held on 19-25 June.

The trophy will be presented to IKEA Group global retail manager and VP Noel Wijsmans, during the Film, Film Craft, Titanium and Integrated and Creative Effectiveness Lions on 25 June.

"This important accolade is presented to advertisers who have distinguished themselves for inspiring innovative marketing of their products and who embrace and encourage the creative work produced by their agencies,"an official statement from Cannes Lions said.

Working with a number of different agencies, IKEA has encouraged creative, unconventional and humorous advertising to raise awareness of their brand and drive people to enter their stores.

Maintaining their marketing strategy, which is based around their business idea of offering a wide range of home furnishing products, the company has been able to localise its global target market and create advertising campaigns that vary significantly across territories. IKEA aimed to adapt to unique marketing conditions and cultural sensibilities of each country.

Cannes Lions CEO Philip Thomas added, "IKEA‘s approach to its marketing and communications, with its decentralised structure and strong relationships with many different kinds of agencies, has been hugely successful over many years. We congratulate both IKEA and its many agencies across many countries on this well-deserved honour."

Since winning their first Cannes Lion in 1991, IKEA ads have gone on to win 50 Lions across all categories, including the Film Grand Prix in 2003 for ‘Lamp‘ and a Titanium Lion in 2010 for ‘Facebook Showroom‘.

Wijsmans commented, "I am honoured to receive this award on behalf of IKEA. It is a great recognition of IKEA advertising that speaks to all of us who want to have a functional and beautiful home. We want to inspire people to fulfill needs and dreams in their everyday life at home. And we want to do that with a smile."

IKEA is named as an acronym comprising the initials of the founder‘s name, the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd), and his home parish (Agunnaryd, in Sm?land, South Sweden).