IKEA has joined the ever-growing list of global advertisers reviewing their media accounts, putting its $444m media business up for review.
Across the world IKEA uses media agencies from all the big marcoms companies but the agency in the frame this time seems to be Dentsu Aegis’ second network Vizeum which handles IKEA in Europe and the Far East. WPP’s MEC handles IKEA in the US. The vast majority of the £35bn retail giant’s spend is in Europe although it plans to expand in China and other Far East markets.
IKEA says: “IKEA is currently in the process of reviewing its media agency suppliers globally. ID Comms, our media consultancy partners, will be helping us facilitate this process. As part of our commitment to the ongoing improvement of our media and marketing governance, IKEA periodically evaluates all marketing service suppliers to ensure we maintain the best working relationships with the best agency partners.”
Which is what they all say (more or less). One reason behind the ongoing spate of media reviews may be the current investigation by the Us Association of National Advertisers (ANA) into allegedly undisclosed media rebates. Marketing teams worldwide are now under pressure to try to ensure that any such rebates go back into their coffers.
A guaranteed winner is media consultancy ID Comms, UK-based but with a growing international client list. ID Comms also worked on the $2.6 billion global Johnson & Johnson pitch last year and the US and European AB InBev reviews in 2014. ID Comms will be working with Stockholm-based Media Path, which will be managing the investment part of the process.
