IKEA Saudi Arabia Show off Creative Muscles at “The Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity”

Ghassan Ahmed Al Sulaiman Furniture Trading Co. Ltd, IKEA Saudi Arabia, along with Memac Ogilvy deservedly established their presence at the world renowned Cannes Lions International festival of creativity. The event witnessed the duo sweep three gold Lion awards, and one silver Lion in the outdoor, and print categories for their unique campaign “It’s that affordable”. 

The wins at the Cannes festival were additional to a list of awards the campaign had achieved earlier this year which included; 1 Gold, 2 Silver, and 1 Bronze at the Dubai Lynx 2016, 2 Merit Awards at the One Show Awards, and 1 Graphite Pencil and 4 Wooden Pencils at the D&D Awards.

"Winning these prestigious awards is not only an achievement for our company, but also to all those who played an instrumental role in helping us achieve this global recognition” said Saud Al Sulaiman, CEO of IKEA Saudi Arabia. “These achievements are a true testament of the competence and creativity of our partners at Memac Ogilvy, and a clear indication of their ability to compete and win on a global level. We are truly proud of these achievements".

The campaign was centered on IKEA’s product affordability, and was communicated through displaying several pictures of IKEA products on affordable items you buy on a daily basis. One of the advertisement’s created  had a picture of multiple cans of refreshment drinks with an IKEA lamp imprinted on them to showcase the price of these cans is equivalent to that of an IKEA lamp. Channels for the campaign included print and outdoor (the categories they won the award for), and the message was clear and simple, IKEA products are really that affordable!

Karim Zarka, Managing Director of Memac Ogilvy stated: “The awards bestowed on us today are a result of the team’s utmost dedication to maintaining the highest level of service and creativity which is synonymous with Memac Ogilvy today. We are very proud to have been able to achieve these prestigious awards in collaboration with IKEA Saudi Arabia, making them the first ever gold wins for a Saudi based client, and that is not a coincidence but rather a direct result of the hard work and dedication by all team members”. 

It is worth mentioning that these awards mark the first wins for IKEA Saudi Arabia at the Cannes Lions International festival of creativity, and that by itself is a clear indication of the status the brand has reached in the market, and the creative standards by which IKEA Saudi Arabia and Memac Ogilvy team work by.