Nordic Special: SMFB

Oslo agency SMFB’s Kristian Kristiansen and Thomas Askim have something of a perverse approach to success. Not for them the short-lived thrills of awards. Instead, their pleasure comes from creating ‘amazing advertising with no rules’, forged in the pain of a culture where the open critique of ideas is the norm, leaving only the best and most creative standing

“You have to be a bit masochistic to work here,” confides Thomas Askim, partner/ECD at SMFB. He’s referring to the Oslo-based agency’s culture of relentlessly pursuing ideas. Its flat structure means creatives are constantly critiqued by their peers, which takes some getting used to. “When your ideas are laid out and openly criticised, it may hurt, but it helps you get better creatively,” says Askim. It may be initially intimidating, but this process is guaranteed to leave only the best ideas to work with.

Life at SMFB is ruthless and rigorous, and thoroughly rewarding for those driven by hard work and ambition. Ten partners work across the different departments and all employees are encouraged to try out varied roles. “This means we get a lot of people in senior positions with different specialities and a really broad understanding of the process,” says partner/CEO Kristian Kristiansen. “This allows people to talk and work together more easily, with greater confidence. Culturally, people will gladly take a step ‘to the side’ for the opportunity to learn something new, to grow and educate themselves. We do have traditional roles, but we find that, in the creative process, those roles get blurred.”

Five go on an advertising adventure

People take roles seriously because they feel personally responsible for the agency’s future. “You work 125 per cent,” says Kristiansen. “You work 100 per cent in your own field and then you’re expected to give 25 per cent across other people’s projects; 125 per cent commitment and zero per cent prestige. So, you’ve got to be a 125 per cent kind of person…” Just not necessarily a masochist.

SMFB’s story started in 2004 when five friends from different disciplines left Leo Burnett to create Shnel & Melnychuck (the name comes partly from an acronym of their initials), and vowed to create “amazing advertising with no rules”. After a speedy ascent, the teams were soon too small to keep up with their clients’ demands. By chance, Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors (F&B) wanted to build its presence internationally and so, in 2006, F&B bought 50 per cent of Shnel & Melnychuck’s stock, subsuming it into a new agency, SMFB, and bolstering its teams. Since then, SMFB has been slowly repurchasing its original stock and redistributing it among its most deserving partners and, this summer, with F&B facing a new structural arrangement, SMFB has managed to buy back its remaining shares to be completely independent again.

Everyone’s a winner, baby

SMFB prides itself on the diversity of its workers – reflected in Kristiansen and Askim’s contrasting advertising backgrounds. Askim took the traditional route into the industry, going to Oslo’s Westerdals arts, communication and technology college, graduating in 2005, and then working at Saatchi & Saatchi as a copywriter, before joining Leo Burnett and eventually SMFB. Kristiansen’s journey, on the other hand, was slightly unconventional. Working client-side initially, he started at Diesel Norway in 1997, moving to lead its international marketing division in 2002. After 11 years he wanted a change and approached SMFB after a friend suggested it would be a good fit. He met the then-CEO, Giorgio Presca (now CEO at Italian clothing brand, Geox) for a coffee and a chat and four hours later, he was hired. 

It didn’t take long for Kristiansen to feel comfortable in the office – winning the Diesel account early on helped ease the transition into agency life. SMFB’s performance at the Norwegian award show Gullblyanten (Golden Pencil) a few years later in 2013 was stellar. “We dominated it. We literally walked on stage about 18 times that night. I love that year not because of the quantity of awards that we won, but because we won awards on five different ideas across four clients. That means the confidence rippled through the whole office. There was not one person who wasn’t on stage that night. And I love that,” he says.

In fact, there was one standout winner from that night and that year, the digitally-activated campaign Seven Days Of Rain for Geox. To promote the waterproof technology built into the brand’s shoes, the team – including Askim, one of the creatives on the job – produced an interactive website that tracked the shoes’ performance in extreme weather conditions. It won a gold Cyber Lion at Cannes in 2013 and the Grand Prix for Promo & Activation at Eurobest that same year.

Marathon work for sprint reward

Cannes 2016 was quieter for SMFB than in previous years, but the Diadora Delivery campaign was still shortlisted for a Cyber Lion. Volunteers ran a total of 35 marathons across nine days to deliver a pair of trainers from Italy to an online shopper in Barcelona. Documented in real time on a designated website, the campaign proves that the agency is still capable of excelling digitally.

Awards are viewed with a healthy dose of realism in the agency, however. “Nothing lasts shorter than an award,” says Askim. “It’s over in seconds.” For Kristiansen, clients are more of an inspiration. “They push us every day,” he says. “And they push back on our ideas – that friction and that love for a great idea executed perfectly is what drives us forward.”

Ten years ago, the agency employed just 15 people, but now it has 70 workers to its name. Despite this growth, the same goal remains: “to make world-class advertising”, says Askim. It’s always been about the right people realising the right ideas… and giving 125 per cent.