Since a while now, Ben is the mobile phone provider that gives you freedom – via pre-paid services or flexible contracts. The female voice-over tells us that she doesn’t want to be stuck. Not to Holland, not to a boyfriend, not to anything. She wants to have the freedom to go wherever. “I am Ben. And I am liberated”. Sounds heavy. But for us that doesn’t matter, of course, cause we appreciate the arty work, honest tone and distinctive feel. Maybe it’s a little too sophisticated though for your typical I-don’t-want-to-be-stuck-to-a-contract target. In any case, refreshing to see a mobile phone provider that dares to be really different. Created by KesselsKramer and directed by Wouter Stoter.

An online thingy for mobile provider Ben, created by KesselsKramer and (technically) realised by We Are Just. With the light on your mobile and a webcam the site berichtinhetdonker.nl (message in the dark) helps you to write an appropriate message to your friends in these dark days before Christmas. It isn’t easy we have to say. The darkness is really important for the ‘light writing’ technique to work and you need to keep a little distance. It took us 6 attempts to create this very arty AAB message – as you can imagine “Merry Christmas” was a bridge too far. Once you’ve created your own message, you can share it via different social media. Meh.

Who would have ever thought ‘Sinterklaas’ could pop up in London. Thanks to KK Outlet (KesselsKramers’ London office) he will. Sinterklaas is basically Santa Claus’ grandpa. The tradition originates from the 15th century when the poor could leave their shoe in church to collect alms. This event evolved into a shoe (or stocking in anglo-saxon countries) underneath the chimney and a bishop-like figure visiting the Netherlands at the end of November by steamboat accompanied by a white horse and an army of black Piets. On the 5th of December children get their presents and on the 6th he’s gone. Together with Sinterklaas, KK Outlet also invited HEMA – according to KK something like a cross-over between Ikea, Woolworths, and Muji. The beloved HEMA is also part of a strong Dutch tradition, so that’s probably why KK Outlet combined the two; Sinterklaas will pay the outlet a visit on December 2nd and the ‘gallery’ will be selling ‘chocolate letters’ and other typical Sinterklaas related products from HEMA. Let us say, an ‘interesting’ joint promotion.

With one of the most right-wing and conservative governments in Dutch history, ‘culture’ hasn’t got much priority anymore. This means shrinking budgets for “left-wing hobbyism”, as islam basher Geert Wilders from the Party For Freedom (PVV) calls it. As a result the cultural sector will be receiving 20% less from The Hague in the future. Although we’re optimistic about creativity always finding its way (just like nature), we believe it’s fairly short sighted to ignore the fact that a thriving cultural scene can stimulate the economy – it’s one of the reasons why Amsterdam is doing so well as creative capital. Anyway, this poster with actress Halina Reijn asks people to scream out loud on the 20th of November (“Holland screams for culture”). There’s also a commercial with different cultural folk screaming. Created by KesselsKramer.

TNT postal service asked KesselsKramer to create a new innovation for stamps. The result is the ‘smallest shortest films’, a one second film that was cut in 30 stills to show as a set of stamps. The film, launched during the 30th anniversary of the Dutch Film Festival in September, was directed by Anton Corbijn, a world famous Dutch photographer – though at the moment he is especially hot for having directed George Clooney without clothes in The American. The model in front of the windmill is Carice van Houten. She played Tom Cruise’s wife in Valkyrie and is Holland’s most successful actress. The image was inspired by a Dutch stamp from 1951 by Cas Oorthuys. Corbijn made a few one second films, but chose this one because it gives the traditional setting a bit of an edge. To get these people to work on your project is quite a smart way to create some PR around it. Nice work.

This 10 second commercial, called ‘Line dance’, shows that with Ben you are free, cause you never spend more than your prepaid fee.  In total KesselsKramer created 11 different commercials, appearing in series of three per commercial break. More precisely, the short films were created by third year Film Academy student Alain Friedrichs and photographer Sarah Carlier. Here’s another one, called Khalid. Last time we wrote about Ben (‘Am’), we said ‘Ben is stuck’. But thanks to these films we’d like to revise this statement; Ben is free. And though to us prepaid doesn’t really feel free, we very much like the somewhat raw style of these ads – it brings back the feel of the very first Ben campaign KesselsKramer made in 1999. We also like the fact that KesselsKramer works with relatively inexperienced talent. It shows that they understand how an open society of collaborative creativity works.

Long live Google images and stingy client budgets – after all Protest is a Dutch brand. You just need an editor and a shot of a snowboarder – wearing Protest gear, of course – that makes an incredible jump. That’s it. You don’t need a big idea, you don’t need a strategy, you don’t even need a media budget, and you don’t worry too much about the fact that the film doesn’t make too much sense – wtf is this pommy doing in Thailand on his way to the snow? It’s only internet, you dummy! You just send it to Amsterdam Ad Blog, who’ll be stupid enough to publish it – after all, you’re KesselsKramer! It’s all good. As long as the consumer remembers that Protest gets you there.

Finally! We’ve been waiting for this all summer! But we don’t actually mean the new MINI Countryman. No, we are referring to a piece of advertising just being awesome. Something that is so well made that your rational brain doesn’t have time to wrap itself around it. Your limbic system simply screams: NEED to have. The way that this four wheel driven race monster is sexed up, makes you want to try it as soon as the 60 seconds are done. The only thing we don’t understand is why they’ve added two extra doors. Surely not to be able to squeeze your little baby inside? Way too dangerous! Anyway, the commercial, called ‘flow’, was mostly filmed in Milan and directed by Brian Beletic. It was produced by Smuggler and the visual effects were added by Sway Studio. Check the making of here. Last but definitely not least, the concept was conceived by bsur. The agency won a three-way global pitch last May against 180 and KesselsKramer – all Amsterdam agencies. And when seeing the result, we are pretty confident that it was a fair decision.

Though these two (“Trees and Bo”) seem to be stuck in this banner, “they’re not stuck with Ben”. Because Ben doesn’t do year-contracts. Ben is the mobile phone provider (the name translates: Am – as in ‘I am’) made famous by KesselsKramer in 1999 with a very distinctive campaign; “Ik ben Ben”. After killing the brand in 2003, to become T-Mobile, it was reintroduced in 2008. To never change a winning team, KesselsKramer was awarded the account for a second time. But unfortunately since the relaunch we haven’t seen – or at least can’t remember having seen – any memorable work. And though this might be judged as a great ad by the average consumer, we of course remember the best banner ad (if not ad campaign) of 2009 for Belgium bank Axion, created by Boondoggle. A very similar idea – though better – that won a ton of international awards – among which 5 (!) golden Lions in Cannes this year. Our conclusion: Ben Was.

Though Zack McDonald recently left KesselsKramer and moved to Sid Lee, he wanted to share his last KK project with us. Together with Christian Bunyan, designer Angela Lidderdale, and Happy Pets, he created INK. The book is about tattoos and people’s often unusual motivations for getting them. The tattoo stories are quite diverse and well written, featuring drug-fuelled trips to Thailand, Scottish teenagers running amuck, and the world’s most precise tattoo artist. Each story has inspired a special one-off illustration by Swiss designers HappyPets. INK appears in a limited and numbered edition of 250 – you can order the book here.