IKEA and Corona top the list of brands recognised in Kantar’s inaugural Brand Blueprint Awards

New awards celebrate the world’s most meaningfully different brands and marketing excellence.

Cannes, France, Tuesday June 18, 2024: Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, today honors the global brands setting the benchmark for sustained brand growth in its inaugural Brand Blueprint Awards, held on the evening of Monday 17 June in Cannes. Marketing leaders from 15 brands including IKEA, Corona and Kahlua accepted awards celebrating their excellence across a range of marketing disciplines proven to drive sustainable brand growth.  

The award categories, each of which represent a Growth Accelerator from Kantar’s new Blueprint for Brand Growth, recognize brands based on Kantar’s world-leading research on how people think and act. Blueprint for Brand Growth proves that brands which are meaningfully different to more people command up to five times the market penetration compared with their competition, and uncovers how marketers can build strong and profitable brands by predisposing more people, being more present, and finding new spaces. Blueprint for Brand Growth is an evidence-based approach built on 5.4 billion attitudinal and 1.1 billion behavioral data points covering the past decade, and is powered by Kantar's externally validated Meaningful, Different and Salient framework. 

Winner – Most Meaningfully Different Brand: 

IKEA received the award for Most Meaningfully Different brand, having consistently portrayed itself as an affordable yet quality brand, making furniture convenient and accessible for everyone. This positioning has built a meaningful difference, meeting consumers’ functional needs while standing out through its price point, unique store experience and renowned DIY format. 2024 has seen IKEA launch its ‘Do try this at home’ campaign across multiple markets, highlighting its affordability during the cost-of-living crisis. These achievements position IKEA in the top three most differentiated brands according to Kantar’s gold standard brand valuation data and demonstrates why the brand tops the leaderboard as Most Meaningfully Different Brand for 2024.

The Fastest Rising Brand Driven by Meaningful Difference:

Corona was celebrated as the Fastest Rising Brand Driven by Meaningful Difference, driven by its ability to meet functional and emotional needs; Kantar’s experts lauded the brand for inspiring people to disconnect from stress and routine and celebrating the power of reconnecting with our true nature, through nature. In 2024 the brand re-entered the Kantar BrandZ Global Top 100 with a brand value of more than $19 billion, becoming the world’s most valuable beer brand. 

Other award categories include Most Creative Effective Ad in Digital/Social, with the trophy taken home by Pernod Ricard’s Kahlúa for its ‘Gasp’ spot featuring Salma Hayek.

Full list of winners

Commenting on the award-winning brands, Chris Jansen, CEO, Kantar, said: “The Blueprint for Brand Growth is a breakthrough in how we think about brands: the analysis of 6.5 billion attitudinal and behavioral data points distilled down to Kantar’s quantified rules of marketing. It also encapsulates the transformation of our company; Kantar is now completely focused on helping brands find and deliver sustainable growth. The brands we are celebrating today are guiding lights for our industry and fantastic examples of how marketing can be a growth driver for brands, whatever their category or size. We are proud to partner with them and grateful that they trust us with their most precious asset – their brand.”