Yacco Vijn leaves digital agency Kong (N=5′s digital sibling) to become Managing Creative Director at TBWA\Neboko alongside Bas Engels. It was a hard decision for Vijn, but the fact that TBWA has been so consistent in its creative success over the past decade and the fact that he leaves Kong in good shape, made him decide to accept this new adventure. By hiring Vijn TBWA wants to incorporate digital in its DNA, which is different from previous attempts to found separate digital agencies; first agency.com and a few years ago Flow – both attempts failed. When we asked Vijn what he thinks of becoming MCD at an agency known for being especially good in making (Dutch) TVC’s, he told us that ‘digital’ is becoming obsolete: “The term is slowly eroding; when I go to a shop to buy a camera, I’ll ask for a camera, not a digital camera. It’s obvious that it will be digital – everything is. I think the time is ripe to stop putting digital labels on agencies and go for integrated by default“. Wise words. Floris Hülsmann, who ironically enough left Flow last year to join Kong, will be taking over Vijn’s role until Kong has found a replacement.
After having been part of the Cyber jury in Cannes this year, Yacco Vijn has now been invited to join the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) and to be part of the jury of the 16th annual Webby Awards to be held in New York next June. Vijn co-founded Kong – the digital sibling of N=5 – in 2007 and helped to put it internationally on the digital map within no time. One of its biggest hits so far was Stanislav, an online campaign warning against cyber crime, winning all the important digital awards. It was one of the first campaigns – if not the first – in the world that aggregated data from a social media profile and use it in a campaign.
Four Amsterdam agencies scored a Webby award this year. The most serious one went to Boondoggle with Take Mokum (Online Campaigns) for Nike+. Boondoggle has a running gag going that mentions penguins in every interview; hence the 5-word acceptance speech by CD Gaston Serpenti – please note that this is Belgium humour. The others went to Streetview Sudan (Rich Media/Non profit), by Kong; Samsung 3D (Integrated Media Plan), by Muse and Starcom; and LBi Lostboys, with a website around the Anne Frankhuis (Cultural Institutions).
Cordaid and ad agency Kong created a website for Japan dubbed ‘Haiku for Hope‘. Not directly to raise money, but to sympathize with the people of Japan. You can create a Haiku in Dutch and Google Translate changes it into Japanese. Since most people are not very good at writing Haiku’s and Google Translate not very good in translating, the messages (spread through social media) probably won’t be very poetic. But hopefully Japan gets the point that we’re thinking of them.
Update: We were just told that there is also a Japanese translator who moderates Google’s translations.
We often wonder how long it will take before Google will bring us ‘Live Maps’. Hard to imagine, but at some point it’ll be there. Kong must have had the same thought when creating this ad for Cordaid. The online agency created a Streetview of Sudan, showing you a village where refugees live. At first it’s a normal streetview; you can scroll around, with your 360° view, and pass Justin Tambuz, 19 years old. She looks into the camera, not very happy. And then, all of a sudden, she starts to talk to you and tells you about her miserable conditions. “I was abducted by a rebel army and violently raped over a period of three months. I managed to escape and flee to Sudan. Now I’m in Makpandu refugee camp. We have little food and water and no bed to sleep in”. Wow, that’s heavy. Once she starts talking, there’s no escape. After all, you were curious enough to check out her refugee camp, so it feels a bit rude to click her away. And when, at the end, you are asked if you want to simply watch or take action – by paying only 10 Euros to help thousands of refugees in need – there’s not much that will stop you. Simple, impressive, and effective.
