Carla Klumpenaar
General manager marketing, communications, interior design (UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Oman), IKEA
Years in current position 3
Previous jobs
- Regional communication & interior design manager (Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Oman)
- Country communication & interior design manager (deputy) Spain
Recent campaigns
- The Book That Will Change Your Life (IKEA Catalogue 2020 campaign)
- Real Life Series, IKEA End of Everyday Drama (February 2019 bedroom campaign)
- IKEA Part Sale January 2019, Feel Alive Again Catalogue 2018 campaign.
Recent achievements
- IKEA End of Everyday Drama (Dubai Lynx Gold in Film and Film Craft)
- Bully a Plant (Dubai Lynx Silver)
- IKEA Somnig (Shortlist, D&AD)
- IKEA Real Life series (Cannes, Silver Digital Craft-Bronze Print lion) (AdStars, Bronze-Crystal), Clio (Silver)
Rapid fire
What are you listening to?
Music from soul to R&B, bossanova, samba
What are you working on?
The opening campaign for our Dubai 2 store and the new sale campaign
What are you reading?
The Power of Professional Closeness
Who are you following?
I follow topics on advertising, marketing, etc.
What are you craving?
Nothing at the moment
What are you hiding from?
My impulsive streak
What are you eating?
Asian food
What are you playing?
Calvin Harris
Where are you travelling?
New York, Amsterdam, and I love the Caribbean and South America
What are you watching?
Netflix content about design
Agency reference
Patou Nuytemans, CEO, Memac Ogilvy
Carla has elevated the quality of the IKEA communication across the UAE, Qatar and Egypt –in terms of creativity and effectiveness, driving brand impact and business results.
The IKEA Somnig, IKEA Bully a Plant, IKEA Real life Series and IKEA End the Drama campaigns have been rewarded in the local and international award shows. More importantly, they have significantly increased brand impact, store visits and online sales.
The IKEA End the Drama campaign is one of the campaigns we are the most proud of. It was successful for two key reasons. First of all, it was based on incredibly relevant local insights that were dramatised in a highly humorous, typical IKEA way. An engaging, relatable campaign that dramatised the drama of Arab families in recognisable situations and allowed us to seamlessly promote IKEA solutions. Secondly, it’s a truly made-for-social media campaign, with multiple assets making the most of every social platform and format, powered by our sophisticated in-house social paid media capability to drive consumers most effectively from engagement to actual sales.
The new IKEA Catalogue campaign has just been launched, leveraging the same principles. No results available yet, but internally IKEA has named the campaign the best catalogue launch campaign globally.
Carla is simply unique. It is her creative expertise – she heads up interior design in addition to marketing and communications – combined with her deep expertise in marketing in this region and for IKEA that not just ensures her incredible passion for creativity, but also makes her the biggest champion of ideas. She knows how not just to find them, but also how to ‘operationalise’ them in the right way to drive real results. She is a creative brand-builder extraordinaire.
Carla is the first client who allowed us to bring our vision of modern marketing campaigns with social at heart to bear, combining our strategic and creative skills with our social paid performance capability. It was a bold choice and one of trust. And that describes Carla best. She has foresight, is courageous and is a real team player, bringing her team and us along on the journey. She is also incredibly positive and wonderful to work with. Most importantly, she brings back Dutch cheese after a visit to her homeland.
