Amsterdam, March 7th, 2022

SuperHeroes is a digitally born and raised global ad agency that seeks to save the world from boring advertising. With offices in Amsterdam, New York and Singapore, they are specialists in attracting attention in today’s multi-everything world. Their eclectic mix of strategy, technology and design offers a quality service for a great range of iconic brands from around the world.

Django Weisz Blanchetta is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of SuperHeroes, which he started with Rogier Vijverberg in Amsterdam. In an interview with TIA, he described the origins of the agency and his current role as Managing Director, looking after the agency’s mission. He highlighted the features that make SuperHeroes different and looked back at recent projects of the agency.

To kick things off please can you describe us a little bit about your city and why it is a great place to work?

Amsterdam is, compared to other capital cities, pretty small. But it still has a lot to offer. And it has the benefits of a metropole – a diverse mix of cultural hotspots and nice places to go out. One of the big perks is that you can easily use your bike to go from one place to another and there is a good life work balance. When in Amsterdam you must take the time to dwell through the streets next to the canals with their nice independent shops. Find the hidden gems; I will share some with you if you want.

How would you describe a regular day in your role?

As managing director I am responsible for ensuring that all our heroes can focus on our mission “Saving the world from boring advertising”. I make sure that they feel safe and empowered to take that extra step for our clients. My day starts with checking my email and quickly after, I will join client meetings, have one on ones with the teams to understand the challenges and issues they face and try to help them tackle them.

As a Co-founder, what was the process of starting your own company?

Rogier Vijverberg and I co-founded SuperHeroes in Amsterdam in 2009. We know each other from university and met each other again at another Dutch advertising agency. At a certain point, we found it was time to start something of our own because we had a clear vision and mission for advertising.

When we started SuperHeroes, one of our first starting points was that we wanted to be an international agency. The Internet has no borders and we want to create work that resonates with many different people and cultures. Since then, we have also expanded to North America, with an office in New York and Asia-Pacific, in Singapore. SuperHeroes has in just a few years become a hideout for big global brands seeking attention – safeguarding and amplifying the brand power of global clients such as Lenovo, Giant, Converse, VANS, Quinny, Netflix and ING.

Working with the right agency can be a valuable partnership. What attributes do you want people to associate your SuperHeroes with?

SuperHeroes is a digitally born and raised advertising agency, with a mission to save the world from boring advertising. Known for our disruptive creativity, we are specialists in attracting attention in today’s multi-everything world with a sweet spot for millennials and Gen Z audiences (a.k.a the digital natives). Nowadays everything is judged in 8 seconds and every touchpoint is a moment for attention, and so we value our digital DNA and international culture. They are key pillars that continue to drive our business and attract partnerships with a great range of iconic brands around the world.

You’ve been able to shape so many brands in your career, but what mistake have you seen from companies trying to stay relevant?

In an ever-evolving sea of sameness, it is not easy to stay relevant or be authentic. Quite often, you see companies jumping from one trend to another without questioning themselves on whether it fits their brand well. Instead, they should focus more on their customer value proposition.

Tell us about a recent project you’ve worked on that you’re proud of. What particularly brought out the best in you?

One of the recent projects we are most proud of is a campaign we did for Disney. We developed a platform called DODI (Digital Outdoor Display Interface) that can turn any DOOH screen into an interactive screen with your smartphone as its interface. We used this platform to create an engaging activation in the form of an interactive game for Disney to promote their new movie, Encanto. What is special about this project is that we used our in-house innovation power to create something that has never been done before and adds relevancy and extra stopping power for DOOH.

Smart team drives agency growth. What’s your approach to hiring?

Prior to launching SuperHeroes, I’ve held roles as an Interaction Designer, Management Consultant and Operations Director. Across these positions, I learned that great results don’t come easy and that dedication, focus and working with the best people are all essential ingredients when fighting mediocrity.

This perspective has definitely underlined SuperHeroes’ approach to hiring. We obviously look for skills and talents that contribute to our projects, but culture and team fit are also important factors. We have an extraordinary team of people from all over the world, representing 14 nationalities, each with their own unique, complementary superpowers.

How can leadership create and then cultivate an inclusive workplace?

First of all, from our mission and vision, we value having the right mix of different cultures and also a gender-balanced team of Heroes. Besides this, we have a couple of principles that we like to stick to
and a holacratic way of working. Some key elements:

• No egos (having an open mind is mandatory).
• Team effort (all leagues of Heroes can contribute and can come up with good ideas).
• Little hierarchy but clear roles and responsibilities (ownership).
• Flexibility (we get the job done and adopt to what is necessary).
• Clear structure about decisions (someone is responsible to run the show but this does not need to be the same person every time).

This, together with our starting points, cultivate an inclusive workplace where there is one mutual goal – that is to create the best work for our clients.

The perfect client brief: Does it exist? What recommendations would you give to clients to help streamline the process between their vision and your process?

It is very important that the client has a clear point of view on their customer value proposition. To be able to create successful work, it must be clear what the KPIs and expected results are. If this is not clear, then you cannot speak of a perfect client brief.

When looking at the technological landscape today, what makes you think “wow”?

The pace of technological developments. Whether it is AI, mixed reality or virtual productions, there are so many interesting developments that can have a direct or indirect influence on how we are looking at the world right now.

How would you describe the creative industry in Amsterdam compared to other major cities?

The creative industry in Amsterdam is vibrant and thriving. The main defining feature, I would say, is its entrepreneurial spirit and out-of-the-box thinking. This is perfectly aligned with our approach to advertising – looking beyond the conventional to produce industry-leading creative campaigns that generate real business results.

Beyond advertising, Amsterdam’s creative scene also spans across fashion, music, gaming, film and more. It is a global hub and European headquarters for international companies such as Netflix, Disney, Tommy Hilfiger, Patagonia, Guerilla Games and more. We’ve worked with many of these iconic brands and it continues to be really exciting for us to be in the heart of this creative hub. Our strategic location in the middle of the three biggest European advertising and media markets – UK, France and Germany, also gives us the opportunity to work on wider briefs and projects that are regional or even global in scope. For the same reasons, there is also an abundance of creative talent in Amsterdam that we are very lucky to be able to tap into.

This also means that competition is fierce. With Ad Age lauding Amsterdam as a global “ad mecca”, we compete not only with global network agencies, but also many independent local agencies. But we see this as a good thing, and more than welcome it! With competition comes innovation, and it definitely drives us forward. In order to remain relevant, we are constantly on the lookout for industry inspiration and how we can also learn from our competitors.

From your personal standpoint, what global issues are you most passionate about and why?

I have always been very passionate about new technological and scientific developments. Whether it is the discovery of a cure for a disease or the latest trends in artificial intelligence, I’m most interested in how these shapes and changes perspectives towards the world around us.

Please share a fun-fact that not many people know about you

I have once been arrested because I did some illegal graffiti when I was a teenager.

Thanks Django!

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