IKEA to be honoured with Advertiser Of The Year Award at Cannes

Swedish home furnishing retail company IKEA will be the recipient of the prestigious Advertiser of the Year Award at the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The trophy will be presented to Noel Wijsmans, global retail manager and vice president of IKEA Group, on Saturday June 25, 2011.

A statement on the Cannes Lions website says, "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 well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them, IKEA has had the ability to localise its global target market and create advertising campaigns that vary significantly across territories as they take onboard and adapt to unique marketing conditions and cultural sensibilities of each country. 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'."

"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," said Philip Thomas, Cannes Lions chief executive officer. "The company's superb track record at Cannes reveals a clarity of vision and an enviable willingness to allow its agencies to truly flex their creative muscles. We congratulate both IKEA and its many agencies across many countries on this well-deserved honour."

Commenting on the award, Wijsmans said, "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. I would also like to thank all the creative agencies we work with worldwide, our in-house agency IKEA Communications in Sweden and all our fantastic co-workers around the globe."