60 years vandenbusken part 2
The creative translation remains key
In 1961, founder Pieter van den Busken shook up the direct marketing world with his progressive vision and self-willed ideas. Under the leadership of the second generation, Arnout and Caspar van den Busken, the agency has grown into an established activation agency. FONK magazine shares six short stories in which relations of vandenbusken share their vision on marcom. In this second episode, read the conversation between Arnout van den Busken and Erik Jan Koedijk, Crisis Manager Data & ICT Security GGD GHOR Nederland.
Our collaboration began in 1998. How did you end up at vandenbusken back then?
‘I still remember it well! It was 1998 and at that time I was the General Manager of SurfControl Benelux. SurfControl was a worldwide leader in Internet filtering techniques for schools and businesses. Children and employees needed to be protected in an efficient way on the Internet. We met each other through a PR agency that we had hired at the time. ‘
What do you value most in the day-to-day collaboration with your agencies?
‘Continuously giving each other honest and substantive feedback to achieve the utmost for the team and the customer. In our projects we set high standards and often must deliver quickly in a relatively short turnaround time. By setting the bar high, the team is constantly learning new things. That makes the work fun, is valuable for personal development and always produces results.’
Just a question of conscience: what are the requirements for the best campaign ever? Have you already created one or are you going to?
‘The best campaign ever has to trigger something that is meaningful and measurably contributes to the objectives we have agreed. I’ve developed several campaigns in recent years with vandenbusken that have met this requirement, and the great thing is that they keep getting better. In short: the best is yet to come.’ How has your brand developed over the past 20 years? ‘
I work for various brands in my field. In the projects in which vandenbusken has often been involved, SurfControl and Nokia remain the best examples. Even though it’s been a while, many of those components (education, measuring=knowledge, good channel strategy) keep coming back.’
Where do you think the advertising industry is headed in the next three years?
‘Agencies will start to focus more and more on one discipline. Specialisation in all aspects. But the ability to pinpoint the core of the problem and then make the creative translation, will always be at the heart of this discipline.
