Flatpack furniture giant Ikea has drawn up a shortlist of five agencies to handle its UK advertising account following a review of the business, which has led to incumbent Mother declining to repitch.
McCann, VML, Adam & Eve\TBWA, VCCP, and AMV BBDO has all been called in for “chemistry meetings”; the review process is being handled in-house.
Notably, three of the competing agencies – McCann, Adam & Eve\TBWA, and AMV BBDO – are part of the Omnicom network and have been affected by Omnicom’s recent restructure following its acquisition of Interpublic.
McCann was appointed as Ikea’s first global ad agency in 2023, with the account run out of its Spanish office. At the time, the retailer said it wanted to “streamline” its agency operations.
Mother, which has handled the business for the past 15 years, has refused to get involved, with the agency’s partner, Katie Mackay-Sinclair, saying: “We truly believe we can’t prove anything in a pitch that we don’t prove every day. Ikea will always be part of Mother’s story and we wish our friends at Ikea all the best for the future.”
Even so, the agency will continue to work on the account until August 2026, at the end of Ikea’s financial year. Rapp handles Ikea’s customer marketing account.
In September, Ikea launched a new service aimed at taking the stress out of moving home, handling tasks such removals, storage and deep cleaning as well as transferring bills, subscriptions and utilities.
The Life at Home offering is a joint venture with Just Move and has opened with three new services, home move and set-up, energy services and the launch of the first Ikea Family Credit Card.
The launch came a week after the company appointed a new global chief data and analytics officer. Burce Gultekin, who has more than 20 years’ industry experience joined in October, succeeding Francesco Marzoni.
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