Claudia Willvonseder

Claudia Willvonseder started her career in the 1980s in the creative agencies where she held the position of CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi, among others. Today, she is IKEA Group Marketing and Com&In Manager (CMO), Member of the IKEA Group Executive Board.

Claudia’s responsibility for the marketing of one the world’s best-loved and unmistakeable brands stretches far and wide: 340 stores in 28 countries, around €35 billion turnover and some more than 100 million members of the IKEA FAMILY member club. Her main goals are to position this remarkable brand in all its markets, and to mastermind the digital and data-driven marketing transformation of IKEA. And, of course, to inspire and encourage the 700 marketeers across the markets with whom she works.

Prior to her IKEA Group responsibilities, Claudia was Head of Marketing for IKEA in her native Germany, where her agency experience and strategic skills helped grow the brand through better, more integrated creative work and improved media efficiency and effectiveness.

Claudia has won numerous awards and accolades during her career, including Cannes Lions, Clio, and Eurobest Advertiser of the Year in 2011 for IKEA. In 2016 she was made an Art Directors’ Club (Germany) member of honour for Lifetime Achievement.

But in the sense of ‘you’re only as good as your last game,’ Claudia is thrilled to hear that IKEA has been placed as the #2 Most Effective Brand in Europe and the #4 Most Effective Marketer in Europe in the recently-published Effie Index 2017.

Not #1 yet? Well, as Ingvar Kamprad says, ‘Most things remain undone. Glorious future!’