Gertjan Kuijvenhoven, Keesie Rotterdam

This extraordinary picture features one of the most promising young talents in Holland: Gertjan Kuijvenhoven. He works at agency Keesie in Rotterdam and before that he worked at XXS, for which he won a total of two silver EFFIE's (effectivity award in Holland). So Gertjan knows what effective work is about and this week he's telling us all about it.

We’re in a pitch for a really nice account and tomorrow, Thursday, we have to present our ideas. During this project I surprised myself that I could be really enthusiastic about a simple sales-promotion. No expensive photoshoot or film production, just ordinary selling. And the funny thing is: I really think this the best.

It gives you a strange feeling when strategy wins from creativity. I’ve always been a loyal supporter of creativity and argued a lot with the strategic department. They always come up with boring details and ask you to turn that pile of shit into a delicious apple-pie... But this time the creatives came up with a sales-promotion. They shouldn’t even think about these things, should they?

I think they should (did I say that?). The best creatives I worked with are very strategic. They don’t do an ad or commercial, they do a brand. They know how to strip down a brand, find the DNA and build it up with identical elements.

So this week underlined that sometimes it’s good to keep your creative mouth shut. Even if you already got the most brilliant commercial in your head that can deliver you Lions, Epica’s, One Shows and Pencils. If a sales-promotion is what will work… a sales-promotion it is.

This is not a sermon against creativity. It’s actually pro-creativity. I love creativity (watch my site www.ideaism.nl and you know that's for sure) and therefore I think that creativity should be used more efficiently. There shouldn’t be any loss. That’s why I ask all creatives to be a strategic as well and visa versa.