‘I think today, more than ever, advertising needs to be very well crafted’

Craften Amsterdam wordt georganiseerd door [het Argentijnse] Ciclope International Advertising Craft Festival, het enige evenement ter wereld binnen de creatieve industrie dat jaarlijks het creatieve vakmanschap van de reclamewereld viert.

Behalve sprekers uit Nederland als Pol Hoenderboom van Tribal DDB, Wesley ter Haar van MediaMonks en Erik Verheijen, Head of Broadcast Production bij Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, is er een aansprekende internationale line-up – met onder anderen: Davud Karbassioun, Head of Film bij BBH London, Jonas Keller, CD bij Jung von Matt Hamburg, Yuki Suga, Executive Producer van Soixantequinze Paris, en James Britton, MD bij Stinkdigital

Adformatie deed een Q&A per mail met Francisco Condorelli, CEO van het Ciclope Festival. Om het verhaal en vakjargon van de geïnterviewde recht te doen, is besloten de Engelse antwoorden niet te vertalen.

What is your (personal) background? How did you end up organizing Ciclope International Advertising Craft Festival?
I´ve been in the publishing business for over a decade and one of the magazines we used to publish (G7 magazine) was and still is very much related to the advertising and creative industry. Because of that, I´ve attended all kind of festivals, especially advertising festivals, all around the world. And there was something that sparked my curiosity: every year, there was a new one, but it was exactly the same as the rest: ideas, ideas and ideas. Which is great, of course, but they were missing something: the execution of those ideas. So I felt that there was a “void” there, and it needed to be filled: the recognition to the execution of those ideas that gives the credit to the people who work on them: ‘production companies’. That's how we started.

What’s the vision behind Ciclope, and could you describe ‘the spirit of Ciclope’?
Ciclope is all about celebrating the craft. The festival is about giving the credits to the artists working on an ad. It´s about understanding that advertising is still about emotions. That´s craft.
We have many different points of view from the industry, and that´s very interesting I think. I would say some speakers are more ‘interesting’ than others. But what we are looking for in all of our speakers is agencies and production companies doing a great job. Examples of these are agencies such as Wieden & Kennedy or BBH, and production companies such as Soixante Quinze, Rattling Stick or The Mill.

And why ‘Craften’ in Amsterdam? What’s creatively so attractive about The Netherlands?
Amsterdam is the creative heart of continental Europe, it’s a “neutral” city, since it’s very international. It’s also a lovely city to visit, so why not?

How important are crafts nowadays, in comparison to 5 or 10 years ago?
I think today, more than ever, advertising needs to be very well crafted, because with the technologic revolution, consumers have the power to decide what to watch (and share). Today it’s not about spending a huge amount of money in media, ‘chasing’ the consumer but making the consumer ‘come’ and ‘spread’ the word about the brand by themselves.

In the press release you stated: ‘We believe that the economic time of uncertainty will bring new opportunities for the industry and we would like to spread this positive vision with our European edition of the festival.’ What are the main new opportunities?
Let´s say that ‘crises’ are ‘uncomfortable situations’, and no-one wants to go through them, of course. But every crisis is a blessing in disguise, is my opinion, because it challenges you to move forward, to find a ‘new way’ of doing what you have been doing in a certain way.
It makes you improve. It doesn´t matter if it´s your relationship, or the last job you did for your client. A crisis always brings you new opportunities.

Finally, what is the main message you want to bring across with the event – towards the advertising, marketing and media industry?
Celebrate the craft. Love the craft. Join the craft.

Craften Amsterdam vindt plaats op woensdag 24 en donderdag 25 spril in Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ.