IKEA UK selects Kaper as its retained Corporate PR agency

Home furnishing retailer IKEA has selected Kaper as its retained Corporate PR Agency in the UK following a competitive pitch process. The appointment will see Kaper work alongside the IKEA in-house PR team to deliver corporate communication campaigns, building the IKEA corporate reputation and brand across England, Wales and Scotland from 1st September 2016.

To support the company’s ambitious growth agenda in the UK and desire for increased transparency among consumers and corporate stakeholders, IKEA started a review process of corporate agencies in May 2016 together with the support of Alex Young at the AAR Group.

The brief for the retained agency encompasses supporting all areas of the reactive and proactive corporate press office, including sharing corporate stories through business and consumer media on both a national and local store level. It also includes delivering proactive communication campaigns created to activate diverse stakeholder groups in support of the IKEA vision, strategies and objectives through demonstrating that IKEA is a modern, forward-thinking and values-driven company, committed to people and the environment.

The Kaper team will be led by Managing Director Chris McCafferty and Deputy Managing Director Nicola Dodd. Kaper will report into Lewis Marshall, Country Communications Manager, and Claire Morisot-Siebenthal, Corporate PR Manager, IKEA UK.

Lewis Marshall, Country Communication Manager, IKEA UK and Ireland, said about the new partnership with Kaper: “We are delighted to welcome Kaper to the team and look forward to working together on building the corporate reputation for IKEA in the UK. Although we are a successful business in the UK and our brand is relatively strong, our reputation today is based predominantly on our products and design-led elements. Bringing the Kaper team on board will help us to strengthen and protect the IKEA reputation by both sharing our positive contributions as a company and also by acknowledging our challenges and how we are overcoming them, building on our market leadership position and helping us to continue to grow our business."

Chris McCafferty, Managing Director at Kaper said of the agency’s new win pitch: "IKEA is a much-loved brand with a progressive and visionary ethos. From the first time we met them, we were inspired by the company’s value-driven culture and the team’s ambition to tell the stories of ingenuity behind the brand. We are hugely excited to be working with them to develop IKEA’s corporate strategy and reputation in the UK.

Our corporate department is our best-kept secret, and has expanded to account for a third of our business, covering the likes of Time Out, AOL, Plusnet and now IKEA.”

IKEA has been working with the retained consumer agency Hope and Glory who have handled successful consumer PR campaigns and events in England, Wales and Scotland for the past three years. Hope and Glory will continue with their current remit, as does JPR who provide both consumer and corporate PR support in Northern Ireland.

IKEA would like to express gratitude to all the agencies who submitted their credentials as part of the process, in particular to all agencies selected for the pitch process for all their hard work.

Source : IKEA 
www.ikea.com 

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