Ikea will be awarded the 2011 Advertiser of the Year Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity next month.
The accolade, which is presented to advertisers who have demonstrated innovative marketing of their products and have embraced and encouraged the creative work produced by their agencies, was awarded to IKEA based on its success in localising its global target market.
The company, which has maintained its marketing strategy of offering a wide range of well designed, functional homewares which are affordable to most consumers, adapted unique marketing conditions and cultural sensibilities to execute effective advertising campaigns in different countries.
Cannes Lions CEO Phillip Thomas commended IKEA's ongoing success. “IKEA'S approach to marketing and communications, with its decentralised structure and strong relationships with many different kinds of agencies, has been hugely successful over many years.”
The award isn't IKEA's first at the Festival. Having won their first Lion in 1991, the company went on to win 50 of the accolades across all categories, including the Film Grand Prix in 2003 for 'Lamp' and the Titanium Lion in 2010 for 'Facebook Showroom'.
Ikea global retail manager and vice president of Ikea Group, Noel Wijsmans, said: “I am honoured to receive this award on behalf of IKEA. It is a great recognition 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.”
IKEA is the world's largest furniture retailer and was founded in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. The company has 284 stores in 26 countries, with more than 600 million visitors to its stores every year.
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