Face to Face with... Ajaz Ahmed

shots has recently returned from exploring the creative side of Parisian advertising for the new issue, but in the time between our visit and the release of the issue creative powerhouse AKQA has announced that it is to open an office - its eighth - in the City of Love. Here, AKQA chairman and founder Ajaz Ahmed explains why the company has decided to open there, and what it means for both the company and the city's ad scene.

Why is now the right time to open an office in Paris?

Paris is home to many great organisations that are looking for an agency partner to help them realise their ambition for innovation, creativity and excellent customer experience. Clients in France want to work with an agency that is creating trends, rather than following them. At the same time Paris benefits from fantastic talent and education establishments. It also has good proximity to mainland Europe, London and New York. We're excited to have the opportunity to create our vision that we call 'Digital Renaissance'. We want to work with clients that share our values, creating work that's 'Made in France' and ultimately receives international recognition for innovation, influence and creativity.

Was it an easy decision to make to open an office there?

We tend to do the opposite of our competitors. This means that we're investing at a time when others are scaling back. In the immortal words of Audrey Hepburn: "Paris is always a good idea". It's been a long-held dream for AKQA to have an office in Paris and thanks to Nike, our partner for 12 years, and the hard work and determination of our team, we've made it happen.

How important is it for AKQA to have a presence in the city?

Paris is a world leader in many creative disciplines. It's important for us to have proximity to the clients that we partner with and the talent in France that we want to hire.

Nike will be the office’s founding client; are there plans in place to have any other clients come on board in the near future?

The main challenge for brands in a 'post-pc' world is to ensure a consistent, quality brand voice across multiple customer touch points. People use multiple devices and experiences. AKQA's focus in Paris is to work with a small number of clients, taking the long-term view, investing and building strong partnerships. We want to invent ideas that move the needle for their brands and create work our team can be proud of. We've had an incredible reaction to our Paris announcement and have been made to feel very welcome in France by the clients we have met. There was probably a sense of 'what took you so long?' to set-up an office in Paris, but now we're here, the conversations we are having are moving forward with momentum and enthusiasm.

Are you already working on a French campaign for Nike and can you give us a sneak insight into it?

We have a company policy where we do not talk about any work until it has been officially announced and unveiled by our clients.

In the new issue of shots, the Paris special, there is a suggestion that Parisian agencies are still lagging behind on the digital front; would you agree and will AKQA look to spearhead a digital revolution in the city?

We don’t spend any energy being critical of other companies, we don't know their stories, we don't know what goes on there, we just focus on where we can make a difference and meaningfully contribute. So our primary goal is to create work in Paris that inspires, is winning national and international acclaim.

Does AKQA still consider itself to be a ‘digital’ agency or is a distinction such as that now irrelevant?

You know, we don't even use the term agency. We call ourselves an 'ideas and innovation company' but we realise we're in an industry that puts labels on things. So it's not a big deal to us if people call us a 'digital agency' or anything else. We find that clients and our team know if we are right for them because of a shared philosophy and sense of values. That's what keeps it all together.

You have a great creative team in place [creative director Peter Lund and associate creative directors Nicolai Smith and Julien Veillon] to head up the France office, but will you be spending much time there yourself?

When you find people that you trust, you have to give them freedom and space and that's what I plan to do. I spend time in all the AKQA offices and with the launch of our agency in France and working with Nike and our team, I have another good reason to visit Paris regularly as it's a beautiful, influential city with people and places that inspire me.

Paris is the eighth AKQA office; are there plans to open any further AKQA offices in other cities?

It's always important to have a vision of what's next. Compared to most of the larger agencies, AKQA is young. We've had a very busy 2011 and an amazing start to 2012 but will soon catch our breath and be looking at new adventures. We are happy with the progress so far, but would love to set-up an office in Tokyo and São Paulo. When the conditions are right and we have found the right people and the right location, that's where we will probably look at next.