Advertising and design agencies try to create added value for their clients. The clients can be organizations, companies, consumer brands, state- or government-owned entities or individuals. THE WORLD OF CREATIVES: How agencies are creating values for their clients (CREATIVE SWEDISH AGENCIES 2010) is a book about agencies involved in advertising, deigning, graphic design and marketing and edited by Åke Lindberg. The cover of the book has two other sub-topics: MAD MEN – What influence they have today, and, Longterm relations are becoming all the more common
The book is holistic in its approach: it presents a holistic view of agencies in Sweden, what they are doing and for whom and how. The book presents 27 agencies based in Stockholm and Göteborg and about their clients and what they did and do.
For anyone interested in advertising and designing the book is useful.
“Many advertising and design agencies have seen their revenues fall substantially during a period of financial crisis.”
The work of people in advertising and design agencies is also changing: Åke Linberg wrote in the introduction of the book: “The work has also changed. Half a century ago, it was common for designers to work freelance. When the agencies received an assignment the news spread quickly and designers would queue outside the office for an interview. All in the hope of getting a temporary assignment that would maybe last for a couple of months.
“Even if freelancers still exist, it is normal for designers to have a permanent position today. One-off assignments lasting for a limited period are uncommon. On the contrary, it seems that genuine longterm relations between agencies and their clients are becoming all the more common.”
WHAT THE EXPERTS IN ADVERTISTING AND DESIGN AGENCIES SAID:
“Marketing one of the best-known brands in the world is both a strength and a phantom on the wall. Everyone thinks they know what McDonald’s is and this means that we have to be extremely clear when we want to change the picture.” –Staffan Ekstam, Marketing Director, DDB Stockholm, Advertising Agency
“Our basic idea was to thank those that pay their licences (for television) rather than chase those that didn’t. Showing gratefulness to TV broadcasting fee payers, and at the same time getting people to feel that they are excluded from something that a lot of people are a part of if they choose not to pay. It was also important that we didn’t get involved it any discussions about programming, as this would only open up for internal criticism.” –Per Hellberg, Account Director, DraftFCB, Advertising Agency
“The multimillionaires who stockbrokers target as clients are often rather eccentric. When they have collected sufficient amounts of money they start collecting things. Often meaningless things. This human need to collect, perhaps better symbolised in Erik Penser than in any other Swede, has served as the basis for everything we have developed for his company ever since.” –Anders Kornestedt, founder and managing director of Happy F&B, Graphic Design Agency
“Naturally, new technology and social media offer people new opportunities to express their creativity.” –David Scholander, senior Nordic brand manager at Unilever
“Working with business-to-business in agriculture – a field that most of us can relate to – involves considerable responsibility. It is a challenging job, in particular in view of its potential. I saw the opportunity to help a well-positioned brand win a new and bigger piece of the pie by adapting it to the changing environment. In a business environment that demands more from less, my solution to finding the right moves to help the brand drive demand was to use advanced analytics and process discipline to locate incremental value from the Delaval brand.” –Benoit Passard, DeLaval
“The shield is an ancient protective symbol. It has never lost its validity and is extremely relevant for a public body (Swedish Radiation Safety Authority: Strålsäkerhetssmyndigheten) whose main responsibilities are to protect people from unwanted radiation, and maintain security in connection with radioactive materials. The shield has diagonal stripes, giving a two-dimensional feel, and representing radiation being stopped.” –Peter Neumeister, Neumeister Graphic Design Agency
“Everyone in Göteborg and western Sweden knows what the colour symbolises and associates it with Liseberg. We hardly need to say anything else.” –Katarina Kolb, advertising manager, Liseberg
“Today it is more important than ever that companies involved in global communications keep ahead of the game and explore all avenues available to talk to their audiences. Social media is just one way for us to reach our target groups. Used the right way it can have enormous impact on how potential customers think and feel about a brand. As a company we have the ability to expose brands to an array of new and exciting online platforms and integrate them into our marketing communications. We feel we have the ability to drive our communications and give our clients an edge with their media mix.” –Peter Johansson, Stendahls Advertising Agency