The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Europe's creative capital? Introducing our insider's guide to Amsterdam

By Kerrie Finch

July 26, 2013 | 3 min read

A hearty ‘goede dag’ from Amsterdam and FinchFactor HQ, as I watch bikes riding along a city-central canal in the blistering sun from a freeze-thaw airco’d office.

Welcome to our new Amsterdam blog

This is the first in a series of blog posts from me, focusing on the block-rocking heartbeat of Amsterdam’s creative innovation industry. Every couple of weeks I will be climbing to the top of the turret for a landscape view of both the brands and brand builders playing their part in establishing the city as an international game-changing hub of creative excellence.

Of course, it has been for centuries, because Amsterdam has always attracted talent from beyond a map of the Netherlands. With so many cultures, creeds and languages mixing it up since the Golden Age – led by a local nation bred on seafaring adventures and pioneering trade routes - it’s no wonder that ideas, collaborative consumption and co-creation is entrenched in the city.

From the brushstrokes of Rembrandt to the designs of Marcel Wanders and the graffiti art of Laser 3.14, creativity - in one form or another - is the lifeblood of this city. There is a sincerity in Amsterdam adland for mixing it up, queering the pitch, with innovators and experimenters across diverse disciplines. It’s what sets this local-international community leaps and bounds apart from other creative hot-spots around the globe. Don’t be surprised to find pop-up gallery organisers and cake bakers sitting alongside social media mavens, working together on a brand platform which encompasses hotel design, botanical hybrids, and a new form of sound technology.

Sold yet? If you haven’t already logged on to KLM.nl for last-minute flight deals, stay tuned for my fortnightly cocktail blended from the creative juices this city has to offer.

And not a clog in sight.

Kerrie Finch is the founder of FinchFactor, based in Amsterdam, and is the Netherlands rep for the Cannes Lions festival

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +