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Ikea Marketing

Ikea’s top marketer Claudia Willvonseder promoted to GM role

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

December 13, 2018 | 3 min read

Ikea’s global chief marketing and communications officer Claudia Willvonseder has been promoted to general manager for the retailer’s Swiss operations.

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Claudia Willvonseder, global CMO for Ikea, moves to GM role

Willvonseder has served as global CMO since 2014 but has worked at Ikea since 2006 in a variety of marketing roles. Prior to moving brand side, she was chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi.

However, now "broadening her remit” she has moved from the business's HQ in Sweden to its Zurich-based office in Switzerland.

A spokesperson told The Drum that Peter Wright has become lead for Ikea’s global marketing.

Wright joined in 2011 as country manager for the UK and Ireland before climbing the ranks to become global strategy, planning and insights director in 2016. Prior to Ikea, he was marketing director at Thorntons, Tesco and Diageo.

Among Wright’s biggest challenges in the coming years will be conveying how Ikea is changing to meet changing customer behaviours.

It’s been a year of mixed fortunes for retailer. In November, it reported that profits fell by more than a third following a hefty €2.8bn investment into its digital offering and tests with small city-centre stores.

These smaller outfits, called Touchpoints, allow people in cities unable to get to its large out-of-town stores to view bigger ticket items like kitchens and bedrooms before ordering online.

The first began trading on Tottenham Court Road in central London earlier this year.

Jesper Brodin, Ikea chief executive, said at the time: "The retail landscape is transforming at a scale and pace we've never seen before. As customer behaviours change rapidly, we are investing and developing our business to meet their needs in better and new ways."

The group’s advertising business currently resides with Mother London, which has held the account for more than eight years.

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