Creative veteran Linus Karlsson joins ‘crazy’ Ikea as CCO for product and marketing

Swedish adman Linus Karlsson has taken on the new role of Ikea’s chief creative officer for product development, as well as being CCO for marketing and communications.

The rise of the consumer’s voice on social media has blurred the lines between the communications and the products themselves, so this is a forward-thinking move for Ikea.

The Swedish retailer has published an interview with US-based Karlsson on its website, in which he talks a lot about long walks with his dog, Peach. No wonder he looks so well in his photo.

He says that he can bring “inspiration” to Ikea, and adds: “I want to be part of this crazy idea called Ikea, which has proven every single business book wrong, and continue the journey together to make life at home better for the many people – by going our own way, and do it in a more sustainable and a more inclusive way.”

Karlsson has been working for the last couple of years as a consultant and a guest lecturer at Stockholm University. He left his last agency role as global CCO of Crispin Porter + Bogusky in 2018, having joined the agency a year earlier at the time he sold his own business, Ming Utility and Entertainment Group, to CP+B owner MDC.

Before that Karlsson spent six years at McCann, finishing as creative chairman, preceded by eight years at Mother (now Ikea’s UK agency) and four years at Fallon Minneapolis.

Karlsson adds: “My new job at Ikea will give me a new context and belonging, and that gives me a lot of energy… Creativity lives in the DNA of Ikea and in everyone who works here. My job is to be an accelerator and enabler so that all the fantastic ideas, thoughts, knowledge and creativity inside all of us can come out somehow.”