Amsterdam Focus: 180 Amsterdam

In her bid to tackle the “Benetton baggage”, i.e. the brand’s history of daring ads, Hannah Smit worked on films that captured relatable human moments, while Tony Bartolucci’s work for ASICS has a universal message for athletes everywhere. Together the CDs at international agency 180 Amsterdam are set to create ads that resonate around the world

Around the offices of 180 Amsterdam, the towpaths are paved with gold. Well, not quite, but this stretch of the canal is known as the Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend) for more than just its picturesque sunsets. Back in the 18th century, it was the wealthiest corner of the city, home to merchants and traders . The agency occupies the former HQ of the most famous of them all: the East India Trading Company. Herengracht 506 is still a hub of activity and a gateway to the globe today, although the goods being exported are different: sumptuous furs and exotic spices have been replaced by award-winning ideas.

The bold buccaneers of this brave new world are creative directors Hannah Smit and Tony Bartolucci, who together run two of the agency’s major global accounts, Benetton and ASICS. Hailing from Canada and the US respectively, they grew up a mere hour’s drive from each other on opposite sides of Lake Erie, but their backgrounds couldn’t be more different – and this, the duo reckon, is what’s key to their success.

Speaking in multiple tongues

Smit’s career has criss-crossed the globe, taking her from big networks to “scrappy little” shops, before arriving at 180 Amsterdam last year. A graduate of Ontario College of Art and Design, she joined Ogilvy & Mather Toronto under Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty fame, moved to J. Walter Thompson Melbourne for two years, and returned to Canada in 2011, for a job at Toronto indie, john st.

Despite winning a gold Design Lion in 2011, Smit is proudest of her unbranded work – namely 2015’s #CoverTheAthlete, which highlights the “frankly inappropriate and fucked-up” media coverage of female athletes. Her zero-budget film in which bemused sportsmen are asked the same sort of sexist questions (sample: “Can you give us a twirl and tell us about your outfit?”), has clocked up over 200m YouTube views and sparked a global conversation.

By contrast, Bartolucci, who’s been with 180 since 2013, complains he “hasn’t done enough work for good. And that makes me feel guilty.” The Ohio State University alumnus spent his early years freelancing as a graphic designer, and segued into advertising while working at BBDO New York: “Being in a building with David Lubars, and part of this cool culture… I got this little spark.” Stints at Grey, McCann and Campfire followed, before he got his big break at DDB New York with The New York Lottery’s ‘Yeah, That Kind of Rich’. “I got spoiled rotten,” he says of the account. “We were able to write jokes for people in the tri-state area and just ignore everyone else. You’re talking to yourself, basically.”

It’s a huge contrast to working for an international agency in Amsterdam, where they’re talking to the entire world. “You have to please everybody and it’s a totally different way of thinking creatively,” says Bartolucci. “That is the challenge for us,” admits Smit. “How do you makes something that strikes a nerve in multiple cultures and multiple languages?”

Well, one tack is appealing to common humanity – such as in the new brand positioning campaign for Benetton. “Benetton has a history of famous, provocative fashion advertising, but in the last ten years they hadn’t really sold any product,” explains Smit. “They said, ‘We need to put product at the centre of our advertising.’” The result was Clothes for Humans, a campaign celebrating Benetton’s functional fashion via “honest human moments”. Was it a daunting brief, given the brand’s strong creative legacy? “We called it ‘the Benetton baggage’,” laughs Smit, “and yes it was challenging, but the brief was very clear. We kept the DNA of the brand intact with this honest, social commentary angle, but did it in a way that’s more insight driven than shocking. And it went beyond a print or film campaign, it was a tone of voice used across their stores and products.”

United [colours of] Nations

Global resonance was high on the agenda for ASICS’ #WantItMore campaign, which Bartolucci worked on alongside then-ECDs Dan Treichel and Dave Canning [now at Joan Creative] and the campaign’s blood-sweat-and-tears realism delivered that in spades. Plus, its go-getting tagline was lauded by The Guardian as making Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ sound “laidback, flaky and out of date”. Work for ASICS continues this year with an immersive running event in LA, produced by HeLo, in which 60 runner-influencers tackled an obstacle-laden, interactive 5km course, with all the action captured on film [below].

With new briefs from Benetton landing on the desk, the duo will continue to strive for universal appeal. “180 is like the UN,” smiles Smit. “Being in a room with people who have varied backgrounds and perspectives on the world… it’s really inspiring and acts like a natural filter to make sure our ideas and insights are global in reach.”