Martina Pavić, BBDO Zagreb: IKEA Recognized the Global Potential of Our Christmas Campaign

The domestic marketing agency BBDO Zagreb concluded this year with a global success. The creative team led by Martina Pavić designed a Christmas campaign for the client IKEA Southeast Europe under the slogan ‘Only Love is Irreplaceable’, for which IKEA Global purchased broadcasting rights worldwide. BBDO has been creating and producing regional communication for this Swedish company for seven years, and this is the first time their work will be visible on a global level. About what this success means and how it came about, the creative director of BBDO, Martina Pavić, told us.

This is the first time in seven years of working with IKEA that the campaign has been purchased for the entire world. What do you think was decisive this time?

– In the first year, IKEA Austria noticed our spot and purchased it, followed by the Czech Republic, and this year IKEA Global requested the purchase of rights for all other countries. Until recently, global campaigns were not even produced, as several hubs created the creative for groups of countries with similar lifestyles, while tactical campaigns were created locally. So this story actually came to global recognition quite spontaneously and thanks to the internal communication of the IKEA markets. We believe that the universality of its message, respect for the style and tone of communication characteristic of the IKEA brand, as well as the quality of production contributed to this. In addition to this Christmas campaign, we have just produced a global recruitment campaign after months of work. We received this job through a direct order, thanks to our previous results.

What is the goal of the campaign and what message did you want to convey?

– This is a holiday campaign and as such is not primarily sales-oriented, but like all others, it is based on the key values of the brand. IKEA is dedicated to a better home life for all household members. We do not view furniture solely from a functional and aesthetic perspective but as something that connects us and makes life more beautiful. Our Christmas story is a warm and unpretentious vignette from life that shows how the holidays are much more than gifts and food. We can always replace furniture, but those we love – we cannot!

Were there competitors from creative agencies across Southeast Europe in your scenario? What did the selection process look like?

– No, because as we mentioned, there was no global competition for the holiday campaign, but its international potential was recognized. Local markets internally present campaigns and results to each other – so this one found its way to other countries quite informally.

What does this success mean for BBDO, but also for the entire domestic advertising scene?

– It means a lot to us, as it is truly rare for a campaign created for a regional market to be recognized as having global potential, especially when it comes from a client who has a huge pool from which to choose such a campaign. BBDO Zagreb has been working on international campaigns for other brands, such as Staropramen and Miller Genuine Draft for years, but they are immediately ordered in such a way that they need to work on global markets. When it comes to the domestic advertising industry, it has been recording significant results in foreign markets and festivals in recent years, so this is yet another step towards placing Croatia on the international advertising scene.

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