Amsterdam: Dutch Mastery

Amsterdam punches way above its weight when it comes to creativity, giving London a run for its money and attracting the European HQs of multiple mega-brands. But despite the melting pot of talent available, international agencies rarely produce work for local markets, while Dutch directors and production companies are not yet first choice to handle global briefs, Joe Lancaster discovers.

There is no other ad scene in the world like Amsterdam’s. Traditionally a centre of trade and culture, the city has long welcomed migrants and, with more easily acquired visas, low taxes and a high quality of life, Amsterdam has become the base for not just big Dutch businesses but the European HQ for countless international brands too.

Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, G-Star, Diageo, Google, Heineken, Philips, adidas, Converse, KLM… the list goes on. Naturally, the agencies have followed them and the result is a slightly odd cross section of Dutch agencies working mainly for Dutch clients, and a profusion of ‘international’ shops creating campaigns that run all over the world but rarely in the Netherlands – all crammed into a gorgeous, village-like space that can be traversed by bike in minutes. It makes for an interesting mix.

“I’ve worked in London and New York but never anywhere with such an amazing mix of international talent as Amsterdam,” says Brit Nic Owen, MD at 72andSunny Amsterdam, an agency that was founded there and in LA simultaneously in 2004. The Amsterdam office has grown from 20 people at the start of 2013 to 50, with the 16th different nationality joining in November. Diversity is intentional, says Owen. “We try to keep the number of people with English as their first language in check – we don’t want ‘London-on-canal’.” While it does fantastic international work for clients including Google and Samsung, Bugaboo is 72’s only notable Dutch client and Owen is keen to capture more.

Not all agencies are as keen though. “We find it very difficult to compete in the local market,” admits Al Moseley, also a Brit, and president and chief creative officer at 180 Amsterdam. He moved there in 2005 to join Wieden + Kennedy. “We just don’t have the insight they have.” His shop counts no local creatives among its ranks and is more focussed on global influences, employing 17 different nationalities. “We have better insight to cross borders. Forty per cent of Forbes 500 companies are run by migrant CEOs – that’s the world we inhabit.” Moseley presented a seminar about ‘exploration into how creative bravery flourishes through displacement and migration’ at Eurobest in early December.

Making the most of local talent

Not all international agencies share that view, however, and Anomaly is one that strives to work for local brands as well as further afield. Its brilliant recent campaign for Fox Sports, who had newly acquired local TV rights for football, was a prime example of how well it can work. “We wanted to bridge the gap between Fox’s [style of] ads and Dutch sensibilities, because the Dutch don’t want to be told how to watch their football,” explains Anomaly’s Australian MD Hazelle Klønhammer. The lead TVC was shot by local director Johan Kramer through 100% Halal, a Dutch production company you can read about on page 54, and was written by Dutch creatives. “It’s important for us to have Dutch creative and account people. We often look here first because there’s a lot of great talent in the Netherlands and you have to have them to go for local work. Having said that, some of the clients we deal with in English,” Klønhammer adds.

Wieden+Kennedy has had another incredible year with work for global and Dutch brands, including Heineken, for whom it won the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix at Cannes in June 2013. There too, the workforce comes from all corners of the globe. “When we hire Dutch creatives, we look for what we always look for – a perfect combination of strong conceptual thinking, top-level skills and great cultural fit,” explains Sophie Worth, a French recruiter at the agency. She keeps her eye on ad schools The Hallo Academie and the Willem de Kooning Academie, among others, for promising youngsters. “We also look for creatives who can work across all our brands and are able to crack local and global briefs, which is difficult no matter which nationality we look to hire.”

Speed and energy

The biggest Dutch agency that services both local and international brands is DDB & Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam. Creative directors Bart Mol and Pol Hoenderboom enjoy working for the likes of Centraal Beheer Achmea, not least because of the speed at which Dutch ads can sometimes come to life. “You can make a TV spot in a few weeks. That gives you energy,” says Mol. However, they also get frustrated by the current trend for clients to shop around for agencies on a project-to-project basis instead of signing them on retainers. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Do you want to win the pitch or make the best work for the client?’” says Hoenderboom. “We recently lost a big pitch for a client who already knew what they wanted. We tried to convince them what we believed [would be better] but it didn’t work. We didn’t feel bad about it.”

Unsurprisingly, the big agencies generally feel the same but it’s not just because they have large overheads to maintain. “Brands aren’t built on projects, they’re built on relationships. We work on the insight of brands’ consumers. You don’t want to start from zero every time,” says 180’s Moseley. “We don’t want to work on briefs, we want to work on business problems to help create growth.”

W+K’s American and Australian ECDs Mark Bernath and Eric Quennoy feel the same. “We’ve worked both ways with clients but would say that, generally speaking, long-term relationships produce the best work and build the strongest brands. We’re in the business of giving companies a voice that can carry their brand for years. To ask for that on a project basis essentially devalues what we do and ultimately conspires against the client’s goal of producing consistently good work.”

The model can benefit smaller agencies though, such as six-person shop WE ARE Pi. “It gives start-ups more of a chance of getting in with the clients, but it makes it harder once you get going. You’ve got to stay on your toes more,” says Barney Hobson, joint ECD.

Will the trend change any time soon? “It won’t change soon but people will feel the backlash,” warns DDB & Tribal’s Mol.

On the production front, the national/international boundary is drawn even more clearly and few local directors get the chance to shoot global work. “Amsterdam is an upcoming market and people take themselves a little bit more seriously than they used to, but a lot of the Dutch commercials are just shit,” shrugs Gijs Determeijer, EP at the aforementioned 100% Halal. “Eighty per cent of what you see on TV is terrible and all the production companies that are here make that shit, so if you have an international creative team working at 180 or W+K and they look at your reel and see a commercial for a butter brand or whatever and it’s just terrible, they’re never gonna hire you.”

High expectations

Of course, there are some exceptions, with strong production companies in Amsterdam including Cake Films, Fat Fred and 100% Halal rubbing shoulders with some exciting digital outfits.

The environment is exciting but tough, says Victor Knaap, MediaMonks CEO. “Integrated production is the biggest challenge for companies such as us in the Netherlands. Our agency partners expect their production companies to cover every element of a campaign, such as film, 3D and digital production.” MediaMonks did this to great effect for DDB & Tribal’s adidas Nitrocharge campaign, which employed dual-screen, gesture-based gameplay and was the first Dutch project to ever win an FWA Site of the Month award.

It’s amazing to see so much inspiring work come from a city of well under a million residents, but, as Anomaly’s Klønhammer says: “We punch above our weight in Amsterdam. I think we’re constantly proving ourselves against London.”

It’s an ad scene like no other; Amsterdam, the little city with big ideas.