Discover Benelux | Business | Marketing Specialists of the Netherlands
driven. We like the data, but we mostly love contributing to the purpose of our clients.” “Our main focus is the sector on the interface between social impact and innovation,” continues DEARDAN. “For example, we created the brand activation campaign for Qlinker, the first entirely digital housing corporation in the Netherlands. And we have just started working on naming and branding Zenid®, jet fuel from air: an international consortium of tech companies who turn carbon dioxide from air, water and renewable electricity into carbon-neutral kerosene.”
National campaign Openjewereld.nu invites people to think about foster parenting without prejudice.
Diversity in a fluid world
Naming and branding world’s first kerosene from air together with Urban Crossovers.
to paint an unrealistically sunny picture either. With our campaign ‘Helden voor de klas’ (Heroes in the Classroom), aimed at attracting new teachers, we emphasised their position as important role models for the future generation. That’s not to say it’s an easy job, but it reminds people of the value inherent in that work.”
Diversity is another important topic for DEARDAN & Friends. “When we attend marketing events, we see that most of our colleagues are part of a homogenous group. We rarely meet people who look like us. The result is that in most brand communication, white heteronormative role models are still the norm. That’s probably not a conscious choice: everyone works from within their own established frameworks. But it would be nice if diversity felt more natural instead of a token.”
To create campaigns that work for each client, DEARDAN & Friends takes a fully collaborative approach. “Our clients don’t just wait for us to pull a rabbit out of our hat. We work alongside them to refine a campaign until it’s perfect for them. This means that the resulting strategy is supported by the entire company and its stakeholders.”
And it does come naturally for DEARDAN & Friends, as evidenced in their campaign for Pleegzorg Nederland, the national foster care organisation. “Our imagery included people of all sorts of ethnicities, because that’s the reality we see around us. The client told us that we had created something quite different from other agencies they had worked with. For us, diversity and fluidity are the norm.” Trimp adds: “It is something we work on consciously. We look for specialists who can push our all-inclusive communication to the next level in terms of ethnicity, gender and sexuality.” “The key to good communication is to focus on what drives your target group emotionally,” DEARDAN concludes. “People should be free to think for themselves: you don’t have to force-feed them your message, you just have to communicate things in a way that connects with them. Simplicity and positivity paired with intelligence – I’d like to think that’s our signature style, and I hope to keep it that way in partnership with many interesting clients to come.”
Between social impact and innovation The agency’s emphasis on purpose and meaning in its campaigns does not mean that its strategies are soft, DEARDAN emphasises. “We provide the analyses to show that what we create has a real impact. We work with for-profit companies, so the numbers have to add up.” Trimp adds: “Our way of working is both data-informed and purpose-
Heldenvoordeklas.nu motivates young people to be a hero in the classroom for the next generation.
Brand strategy and visual design for the first 100 per cent digital housing corporation in the Netherlands.
Find DEARDAN & Friends’ portfolio online at: www.deardanandfriends.com
Issue 73 | January 2020 | 67