Campagne is a Rotterdam-based strategic and creative lead agency. We build strong brands that have a valuable impact. Rotterdam is known for its down-to-earth and ‘make it happen’ mentality, traits our clients, and we as an agency, value. As a mid-sized Dutch agency, we value our independence and short line communication within our agency and with our clients. We do, however, want to provide our clients with support and knowhow on global markets. This is the reason we have been a long-term member of AMIN, a worldwide network of independent advertising & marketing agencies.

Our CEO André van der Meer has been one of the driving forces behind AMIN. First as President of AMIN Europe and now as AMIN EMEA board member. One of the strengths of the network is that AMIN enables cooperation between agencies on a global level and adds value to internationally oriented agencies. We have, for example, gathered global insights for our client Imatech, and we’ve been working with CVR (AMIN agency in Indianapolis, United States) for Allison Transmission for years. Through the network we create tools, share (local) insights and combine the expertise of agencies by challenging each other in meetups or by learning new traits and techniques.

Different cultures, different ways of working

Every agency, big or small, has its unique way of working, that spans from the design and setup of the office to (internal) processes and the software used to collaborate. We feel that, especially in this fast pacing field, we need to stay curious and be willing to adapt to new ways of working. To keep an objective and fresh approach to our agency is one of the reasons we visit at least one AMIN agency every year with our entire team. Exchanges like these give us the chance to learn from different (work) cultures. Besides, it provides us with the opportunity to invest in the relationship between AMIN-colleagues; it builds a strong bond between teams from different companies and thus makes it easier to collaborate.

New perspectives, new insights

We recently visited ComOn, the AMIN agency in Lisbon, Portugal. They taught us that when an organization grows, it is crucial to make sure everyone stays part of the organization, and you need to keep the team involved and heard. At ComOn, they also continue investing in the knowledge of employees with Friday Open Sessions; group sessions that don’t necessarily have to be work-related but have to bond colleagues.

To give you another example, during our visit to Avidly, our AMIN partner in Finland, we were brought up to speed with the opportunities Hubspot gives you with inbound marketing and marketing automation. Something we immediately adapted and successfully implemented for a new client.

A bigger team

When we work on global clients, Allison Transmission, for example, we try to give employees a chance to go on an exchange. John (one of our creative directors) recently visited CVR, and their team visited us. These visits strengthened the bond between the agencies and improved how we have been working together. It also gave us insights on how we can improve our approach to clients and the messaging techniques to use in a team.

By working closely together on projects and between independent agencies, we give our clients a team that is bigger than the agency itself. Our AMIN Skill Groups are a fitting example. These groups are collaborations between strategists, planners, and creatives of different AMIN-members, an extensive global cooperation that uses the local knowledge of the respective agencies. The Skill Groups create an environment that encourages everyone to share work, learn from each other, and also brainstorm on how to create better and more effective work for our clients—adding and creating value for the individual, the group and the client.

We believe that working together with other independent agencies is one of our greatest strengths. The cooperation propels us forward in our research and our thinking. We create better work by working together with different cultures. We do, however, stay the same lean independent organizations. With quick calls and short lines. AMIN, independent agencies with a global reach.