Forecasting 2014 with... Halbo van der Klaauw

Head honcho at The Ambassadors in Amsterdam, Halbo van der Klaauw is refreshingly confident about the year ahead and backs his optimism with reference to the great sporting events planned for 2014. Already a hit at CES this month the Oculus Rift has been supported by his company for a while and The Ambassadors continues to develop its own “wild” internal ideas through a new testing programme called The Playground, highlighting its commitment to innovation.

Van der Klaauw believes it’s being frank and brave that will be key for creative excellence in the next 12 months and predicts the blurring lines between production and post to continue distorting traditional practices.

Here, he talks about a burning desire to get involved in projects at the early stages, creating advertising for TV within a matter of hours and plans to trust his intuition more in 2014.

What are your predictions for the industry in general in 2014?

It’s going to be a stellar year for the industry. There’s the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Cup and the Sochi Winter Olympics all happening. The Winter Olympic spending cuts that have been all over the news lately mean the advertising world needs to take a creative approach to the event so all eyes are watching to see how that develops.

What would you most like to see happen in advertising over the next 12 months?

I love working with clients and brands with balls! Personally, going forward, I would like to see agencies taking more of a lead in the creative process, rather than just implementing what the client wants, or thinks they want. Not being afraid to have frank conversations is better for the whole industry and drives creative excellence across the board.

What are you most looking forward to personally over the next year?

The industry is changing so fast. Today the lines are increasingly blurred between production and post production companies. This is great for us as one thing we really love is getting involved at the start of the process and delivering the full package: sound, edit, VFX, design and animation and grading. 

What will you do differently this year that you didn’t last?

I am challenging myself to listen to my intuition more this year. Company-wide, we have made a promise to make more time for our own projects. The great thing about having different expertise under one roof is that when we have an agency in our building, we can give them immediate ideas and solutions for making a project bigger, better and more creative. Then, before you know it, they are working with us to execute our new idea which I think is really cool. 

What media/technology/platform/campaign do you think will shine this year?

We’ve developed new technology that allows TV standard ads to be created within hours. This will bring a huge change to the industry as it will allow ads to be much more targeted and will truly put the power in the hands of brands.

Also we were early supporters of Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset for 3D gaming. Look out for it exploding onto the scene in the next few months.

What effect do you think this year’s World Cup will have on the industry?

It’s always incredibly hectic around the time of the World Cup and then quiet after – which leaves space for us to focus on other projects.

Where will you go on holiday this year and why?

I just returned from Asia with my family over Christmas and the New Year break. My wife and I love Asia and we wanted our children to experience it. So no Holidays for me this year.

What’s your New Year’s resolution work wise or other and do you think you’ll stick to it?

For The Ambassadors, to create more kick ass, innovative projects to excite and inspire creatives and brands.  And yes, we will be sticking to it.

In order to keep our creative juices flowing we have developed The Playground, a test bed for all the wild ideas we are constantly dreaming up. Whenever we have some down time, the team is given the space to focus on personal projects. 

This showcases our collective talent and makes agencies and brands more likely to try something new with us, to take those creative risks that are necessary to make jaw-dropping work.

If you had one hope or request from the client side this year, what would it be?

I want to continue to work with clients who are brave and not afraid to follow their creative instincts. Stick to your idea, dare to make something different and involve us as early as possible in the process.

And if you had a piece of advice for the creative industry in 2014 what would it be?

My advice would be: innovation is key. However, never forget what a beautiful composition looks like, that’s the compositor in me.