Amsterdam, January 20th, 2017

Amsterdam based Itsavirus, is a strategic digital agency that, according to its founder Jochem Verheul, was able to make the best of a tricky situation. Itsavirus was founded in 2009, during the heat of the credit crunch. “We manage to take opportunity of the chaos at that moment and gained a lot of traction, media attention and larger customers,” says Verheul.

Verheul was always interested in technology, especially computer technology and electronics from a very young age. He also comes from a family of entrepreneurs and he seems to know how to party. This combination proved to be a winning formula at the start of his career.

“I was a university student when I founded FRDM. This was one of the first fashion labels with a solid online strategy in The Netherlands,” points out Verheul. “I sold self designed shirts and sweaters via my web shop and seven stores in and around Rotterdam.” FRDM was famous for sponsoring the best parties, collaborations with Dutch TV programs and it’s strong presence on social media. Because I was running the entire business (from design to administration and marketing) this was a very useful learning period. I loved building the brand and company. However, when I got my MSc I decided it was time to think bigger and start a different company.

Itsavirus has a very broad customer base, ranging from large corporate organisations to smart innovative start-ups and municipalities. In 2015 the company won the largest media awards in the Netherlands with one of these start-ups. The thing that its customers have in common is that they want to bring innovation to the digital side of their business and/or the way they communicate.

Verheul describes, “We help our clients with strategy and to develop smart concepts. This is always the starting point for all our projects. Therefore you could say that our mission is to help our customers re-invent their digital business.”

Can you describe your agency in three words?

Technical, strategic, service.

In your opinion, what ingredients are key to create a successful digital campaign?

Start with a good strategy, develop an innovative concept and deliver high end quality. Pay attention to details.
I think it is relatively easy to develop an outstanding campaign when you have a big budgets. However, with limitations, creativity must overcome these limitations. Most of the best campaigns are created with little means; they must be super relevant / funny or provocative in order to get attention.

Which qualities of creativity do you look for when recruiting new people?

The most important quality is their mentality. They must be very eager, sharp and willing to win in everything they do.

We employ ambitious young minded people with the ability to tackle any problem or challenge. Everything is possible and there are no technical barriers. If a solution is too complex to realise, the solution is just not good enough; think harder!

Nobody at our team has a 9-5 mentality. We all work hard, feel passionate about our company and have a lot of fun during and after work.

After mentality, we are looking for the right skill set and experience. This depends of course on the vacancy.

People with the right mentality do not necessary need all the skills at the moment we hire them. We prefer to hire people and invest a lot in their skills. All our people receive a training budget bedsides their regular salary. But, of course they must have the ability to get to a very high level.

How do you prepare a standard project brief?

We have a standardised briefing sheet, which is part of the project management software that we have developed for ourselves. With this software package we can control all projects within our business; from lead to invoice.

What role does the project brief have with regards to the ad / project development / design / or campaign?

It is the backbone of any project; from planning to testing and invoicing. A good briefing is important to deliver what a client wants. You can manage customer expectations and use it for internal briefings.

What are the things that one should never miss when you preparing a project brief?

Take your time, discuss the briefing with people from different disciplines. Be as rigorous as you would be when testing a product before delivering it. Missing anything important in this stage will cost you time and will frustrate the process later on. This is costly and it has a negative impact on the quality.

Name a challenge your team is currently facing.

All the challenges that we have met during the past seven years, are about setting very high standards in a change receptive organisation. To tackle this we use a very agile way of working; change is the standard. But of course this is not simple. It takes time, brains and effort.

For example:
1 – When we started our workflow was very basic. It did what it had to do; deliver very good products, but it was far from perfect. Now our workflow has been improved drastically. We are able to do much more in the same time or faster than before.
2 – We have built a lot of websites and platforms since we started. These companies are loyal customers, which we continue to help with the maintenance and support for their digital assets. As you can imagine, the more project we have, the work multiplies. To sort out this issue we have set new standards for maintenance and support, making sure our clients get what they need very quick and creating time for new larger projects.

How would you describe the creativity culture at your agency? How is
that culture cultivated and maintained?

The most important aspect of our culture is that people have almost complete intellectual freedom. We make decisions based on the power of arguments, not based on age, experience or status. For example: We sometimes hire young and talented interns. They can be as young as 17. Their opinion is as important as my opinion. It is about building the best solutions and not about ego’s.

The culture is maintained by a very informal but focussed setup in all aspects of our business.

What inspires you in your work?

People and businesses should have no unfair restrictions in realising their ambitions and life goals. If there are any restrictions, I like to build something that has an impact in changing this for the best. This way, our solutions matter to people and society.

This sounds very big, and sometimes it is. We build a platform that is changing the DOOH industry, developed intranet solutions that serves thousands of people every day, made small funny apps and we are building an AI platform that improves the process of AB testing. If we manage to make a difference in the lives of all the people who are using our software, we have made a good impact on society.

What is your personal definition of creativity?

Creativity is a form of problem solving ability.

Are there online publications, professionals, industry leaders you follow?

Not specifically. I like to focus on my work. I read books and be up to date a little with the news. I follow Techcrunch, read some articles via Medium and follow the news via the BBC.

I think that we are bombarded by irrelevant news that we receive via our social media timelines. We are entertained but we seldom see or read things that educate us. People are trapped in a fifth dimension of infotainment. They cannot escape and it is very comfortable to be in. I choose to participate as little as possible.

Which cities outside where you live interest you creatively?

I like all places that feel like an urban jungle. Places where nobody cares about who you are and you can live totally off the social grid. You can be totally alone while living between millions of people. It gives me a sense of freedom and belonging at the same time. Bangkok and Los Angeles are two great examples.

What do you like doing in your free time?

I have two young kids, so that takes a lot of my free time. Other then that I work out (Thaiboxing, fitness, running). I spend time behind my computer, practicing my programming skills (at Itsavirus I do not program but I like it).

By Geny Caloisi.
genyc@topinteractiveagencies.com

Learn more about Itsavirus

Follow Itsavirus on social media:
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Follow Jochem Verheul:
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