• Ad Age, Friday, June 13, 2008 10:46 AM

Swedish home-products retailer Ikea is serving as a marketing partner on Universal's forthcoming summer release of "Mamma Mia!" which employs the hit songs of Sweden's Abba to tell the story of a girl hoping to discover the identity of her father on the eve of her wedding.

"Everyone knows Ikea," says Bill Agee, marketing manager of Ikea's U.S. operations, so the goal of the campaign isn't to increase awareness. Rather, its purpose is to make sure that the store stays "extremely top-of-mind throughout the year" -- not just in the summer, when people shop for outdoor garden furniture, or at Christmas, when home furnishings and cookware sales skyrocket.

Ikea has been slowly warming to entertainment marketing. It recently allowed comedian Mark Malkoff take up residence at its New Jersey location, living in one of their furnished bedrooms for a week last January in what became a minor web sensation.

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