A year in the life of Advance
Here’s CEO Jens Krog with a quick review of the year just gone.
2011 was a tough year for the economy and a tougher one for the industry but I’m proud to say that we’ve come out the other side a wiser and even a bigger agency. As I write, most forecasts indicate another challenging year ahead and we’re focused on making sure we continue to evolve our offering.
Clients need agency partners to work faster, smarter and cheaper. These pressures are not new but have been accelerating in recent years to the point that the industry is barely recognisable from just ten years ago.
The digital transformation is the most obvious change but while we’re retooling to ensure we up our online skills, we’re just as interested in the way the contract between advertisers and consumers is being transformed. We’ve always said the best communication is a great product or service and this simple saying is truer today than it’s ever been.
We’re intrigued to see how the relationship between brands and people continues to evolve in the months and years ahead. We hope and believe the transparency of the Internet will continue to push companies towards more responsible practices and we think more of our time will be spent helping clients stay on top of societal changes, as well as those affecting the way brands communicate.
Anyway, here’s a quick look back at some of our 2011 highlights as an agency, and here’s to a great 2012.
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Our LEGO team had another busy year with the launch of LEGO Friends on December 26 the culmination of several years of intense work. We’re proud of our contribution to what was one of the company’s most important launches for some years.
The LEGO Universe experience was bittersweet. We invested a great deal of energy in this project and we can be proud of what we achieved. We were deeply saddened when LEGO decided to close the game but our time on the project made us smarter and strengthened our gaming credentials.
One of our most high-profile projects was our Caroline Wozniacki campaign for COMPEED. The partnership has helped the brand re-establish its athletic heritage and given it an injection of star quality.
Our campaign for Øresundsbroen was hugely effective with over 35,000 motorists signing up for the half-price bridge pass in the first few weeks alone.
Elsewhere, we’re continuing to do interesting work with Coloplast. The company is on a mission to be more customer-focused in its communication and this has led to some powerfully compelling work with the voice of the user increasingly central.
Customer insights are also at the core of our thinking behind the creation of the Bloom retail brand for Widex. This was an extremely challenging project that involved the creation of a brand for over 500 retail shops around the world in a very tight timescale. Hearing loss is daunting and complicated – our goal was to create a brand that made it seem less so. We’re still on the journey but we can be proud of what we’ve achieved so far.
I was also proud of the work we did in helping P2 communicate its switch to digital. We made a great little short film with a limited budget and in rapid time.
We also had a solid year in terms of new-biz, being awarded the business for two global product launches from Nycomed (now a Takeda company) and winning CoRo Foods in a pitch. Perhaps more significantly we didn’t lose any business, a plus in a year when many agencies lost clients or closed altogether.
On a personal note, my highlight of the year was our agency masterclass at Hyper Island. The three days we spent there gave us a massive energy boost and brought us closer together. We came back full of hope for the future and full of ideas about how to work smarter and more creatively. It was a great way to end the year.
River deep, mountain high
A few pics from a recent shoot for Coloplast that took us to the top of the Alps and the beautiful Normandy countryside. We’re looking forward to sharing the final videos.
Back to business
Many of us have had the last two or three weeks off but we’re back now, recharged and ready to go. The months leading up to the summer break were hectic to say the least. As well as the successful pitch for BR & Toys’R'Us, we also acquired the dialogue agency byHabit (henceforth to be known as Advance Relations).
Our clients have been keeping us busy too. In LEGO, we’ve been running a number of big projects, including Hero Factory and LEGO Universe, but we still found the time to partner with the company to win a grant from the Danish Advanced Technology Foundation to co-develop modular playware.
Our other ongoing work includes two product launches for Coloplast, 2011 campaigns for Compeed’s blister, corn and cold sore products, an image campaign for ITD and an awareness campaign for HK. All big projects and all developing well.
Meanwhile Advance Spirit continues to grow impressively. Recent newbizz wins include Choice Hotels and DSV, while big projects are continuing with ITD and Q8.
Last but not least, partner and Senior AD Gavin (above) celebrated his 50th birthday shortly before we broke up for the holidays. He treated himself to a motorbike so we gave him a cheque and strict instructions to buy himself a helmet.