Indie was founded by Schaeffer, Wünsch and Has (only Schaeffer is still on board). The name used to be S-W-H, but in 2009 the agency decided to make its preference for staying independent the new USP - hence the change of name. Indie was founded in 1997, but it never lost its fresh and out-of-the box thinking. And it is the constant quality and always surprising work for a wide range of clients that won Indie the title Agency Of The Year 2007. Bolletje (an FMCG) is an example of brand that has been built for the biggest part by Indie. The truly unorthodox and funny creative work was awarded a golden lamp (equivalent of the British pencil) in 2007. In 2009 the agency won Nike Golf, which seems to be the definite break through to become a global player.

www.indie-amsterdam.com

Hoogte Kadijk 143-F26
1018 BH Amsterdam
+31 (0)20 422 2999
info@indie-amsterdam.com

Last night Amsterdam won 2 golden design Lions. Amsterdam Worldwide for its Onitsuka Tiger Tansu sneaker (picture) and FHV/BBDO for its black Mars packaging (almost) without the iconic Mars logo. Consumers received a sheet of letter stickers to create their own text on the Mars bar. The jury was charmed by the fact that Mars dared to change its world famous packaging so radically. In Cyber Amsterdam won 2 bronze Lions. Achtung! with 'Public Polo' for Volkswagen and Kong (again) with Stanislav for the Ministry of Justice. The day before yesterday we got 2 silver outdoor Lions. Again, one for MINI Christmas box by UbachsWisbrun/JWT and one for Interbest, created by Y&R Not just film. Indie won bronze in radio for Dance4Life.

Source: Adformatie

Last week the Dutch Art Director's Club (ADCN) awards, or simply the 'Lamps,' were divided between the most creative Dutch agencies. DDB was the big winner, with 3 silver Lamps - and 29 nominations, out of 204 nominations. DDB's best silver Lamp went to its commercial made for Ziggo. DDB's digital sister, Tribal won two times gold with Carousel for Philips, which is no surprise after having won already so many international prizes. Indie won 2 golden and one silver Lamp; all for Domino's pizza. Indie's golden awards both went to 'Delivery Point' (outdoor and activation), silver went to 'Builders'. Kong won 2 golden lamps for Stanislav (interaction and activation). Out of the 7 golden and 15 silver Lamps, our most favourite Lamp (gold) went to Kit Kat Jesus by Ubachs Wisbrun/JWT. It's brilliant in its simplicity and shows you don't need an incredibly big budget to come up with a great idea.

This guerilla ad by Indie at Amsterdam airport Schiphol is created for the Belastingdienst (national tax collector). Rare species (or parts of them), like an elephants tusk, Ocelot fur, a Ridley turtle and Barrier Reef coral, are being displayed on the baggage belt as if they are souvenirs imported by tourists. All the packages carry the message ‘Something to declare’? It makes you wonder how many innocent tourists actually bring in these kind of goods. If this number is substantial, it will certainly raise the declaration awareness - if not, at least WFF will love them for it! Indie already did this for the Belastingdienst a few years ago. Back then fake lizard and crocodile tales were protruding from suitcases. Unfortunately this will be the very last ad Indie has made for the Belastindienst, since UbachWisbrun/JWT won this client in a pitch last year. Whatever the reason for changing agency, Indie did a great job in transforming the Belastingdienst in a unapproachable fortress to a sympathetic, human organization. And that is a big accomplishment!

Brilliant in its simplicity. This ad by Indie for Dominos doesn’t need much explanation. And that’s a smart thing when you’re talking to hungry builders about pizza. If it's up to us, prize winning already.

Finally UbachsWisbrun/JWT seems to have taken the big turn. Through Adformatie we learned that the agency has won the prestigious Belastingdienst (National Tax Collectors Office); a several-million-account. DDB, Publicis,  Roorda and Imagine were also involved in the pitch. Through the grapevine we learned that at JWT the champagne has been flowing abundantly. In the last two years the office has only been loosing (important) accounts. After having been ditched by Vodafone (went to They/Achtung!) and Rabobank (went to N=5) the agency shrank from 188 employees to 50. Belastingdienst came from Indie, who owned the account for five years and produced some very smart advertising. Indie literally gave the tax collectors a sympathetic face, which is - if you look at the nature of their 'business' - not an easy task. 15 employees were made redundand, because of the loss. Anyway, congrats JWT.

This guerilla ad for Domino’s, doesn’t need much explanation, except maybe that ad agency Indie wanted to explain to the consumer that you don’t need to be at home to order Domino’s; your front door (complete with door bell) can be wherever you want it to be. Another great translation of the pay-off: ‘Man – Hungry – DingDong – Pizza’.

Who wouldn’t want to make advertising for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream! A delicious product, a fun corporate identity (using slogans like “if it’s not fun, why do it”) and sexy mission statement that uses terms like ‘sustainability’, ‘prosperity’ and ‘quality of life’. Inspiration enough to come up with a mind blowing campaign, you would say. So Indie is probably very pleased to become Ben & Jerry’s lead agency in the Netherlands, without even having to pitch for it! Indie’s work for Bolletje must have helped the agency win the account, as its advertising for Bolletje breaths a fun attitude from every single pore.

This weekend 'Carousel' for Philips, made by Tribal DDB, won a Film Grand Prix in Cannes! Last week the online case was already awarded with a silver Cyber Lion. According to film jury member Richard Bullock (180 Amsterdam) the jury was unanimous and quick to decide that this was a Grand Prix. David Lubars (BBDO), who presided the film jury, called it mind blowing and said it showed the way forward. True enough; the technique gives an extra (interactive) dimension to film. And when content is fully animated, the viewer can even change the 'camera' angle in any desirable way – which we saw earlier this year in the commercial for the game Killzone 2. Other Amsterdam winners in Film: TBWA\Neboko won silver for its Heineken walk-in fridge and bronze for its IDFA films – both commercials won a golden ADCN lamp earlier this year. Amsterdam agencies Indie and Ogilvy also won a bronze Lion for respectively Orange Babies and Sensoor.

'Ik wil Bolletje!' (I want Bolletje) is what this lady is thinking while struggling to get into the building. Simple and funny at the same time, that’s what these 10 second commercials are. Also check this one. And this one shows what happens when you finally give in to your craving. They were created by Indie. Three different commercials are shown within a single commercial break. A smart media strategy, since three times 10 must have more impact than one time 30 seconds. The commercials were directed by Richard Boden, who knows well how to handle humour. He directed both Blackadder and 'Allo 'Allo at the end of the 80's. Bolletje, a brand with a heritage of cheeky advertising, has used the phrase ‘I want Bolletje’ since the 50’s already. In 2007 Indie revitalized Bolletje’s brand personality and introduced the thinking balloon as ad property. The first commercials starring the balloon were also directed by Boden.

Agency of the year 2007, S-W-H, changed its name into Indie. Makes sense; we never really understood why so many agencies in an industry that calls itself 'creative', weren't able to come up with a better name than simply the first letters of the founders. But there’s more to it, of course. Lode Schaeffer (the S) is the only founding partner still on board. And after several unsatisfactory talks with different agencies (among them Taxi) about being taken over, current partners Lode Schaeffer and Mark Aink realized that staying independent is more important for them than an early retirement in the south of France. Et voila, a new brand was born. Tim O’Kennedy (ex MD W+K) helped the agency shape its new positioning and The Stone Twins created the new brand identiy. That's typically S-W-H (or Indie from now on); the agency likes to involve ‘outside’ expertise with a different background to keep it fresh and far away from its comfort zone. Actually, that's more or less the definition of creativity; bringing together different ideas and merge them into new ones. Good luck, guys!