-Life as a Creative Ad Agency Founder-
Creative expression is found everywhere. Think all of the different forms of art, music and architecture for example. This ability of humans to think in an abstract manner is certainly one the defining traits of the human species.
Not only do we appreciate it, we build businesses, lives and modes of communication around it. To add, creativity as we all know, can breed further inspiration and lead to even more development.
On today’s show we have a guest who lives, breathes and immerses himself in this world of creative thought and dissemination.
Quite frankly, his business depends on it. Adding to the complexity is that he requires teams of people that are also equally tuned into harnessing their own creative faculties to align and ultimately get behind big ideas time and time again, in order to create something of value for the clients his biz serves.
Welcome to the world of creative ad agency work.
Introducing
Marc Wesseling is the Co-founder & director of UltraSuperNew (USN), an independent creative agency born and raised in Harajuku with offices & art-galleries in Tokyo and Singapore.
Client List
Since 2007 the international USN team of 60+ people has been serving clients such as Red Bull, Unilever, Heineken, MINI, PernodRicard, Skyn condoms, ASICS, Adobe, EA-sports, PUMA, PayPal, Tabasco, and many other top tier brands.
Awards and Recognition
It is a highly decorated outfit with award and recognition not limited to Campaign Asia’s Pacific Agency of the Year awards in 2020 and 2021, as well as Japan/Korea independent agency of the year silver and gold prizes.
Appreciation for Arts and Creativity
From 2012 USN also began operating art-galleries at both offices to give a platform to the makers and creators of these cities which USN operates within.
Professional Background
Originally from Amsterdam, Marc has been living in Japan since 2002 and in Singapore since 2016. Before Tokyo he had been working in advertising and digital media at various companies in San Francisco, New York and Hong Kong.
On the personal side, Marc is addicted to snowboarding and as such, the Japanese Alps is where he spends most of his weekends during the winter months.
Marc has his Master of Law (LLM) degree from the University of Leiden, specialized in Media Law.
Reasons to Listen
The conversation reflects well on Marc, his time spent in advertising and his business. It is filled with insights, story and looks that one can only have from spending so much time embedded within the world of creativity and advertising. This talk will be a treat for those with similarly minded passions or potential interests. Listeners can expect to hear insights on the following:
- A backstory of how Marc quickly came to realize that a degree in law was not going to set him up for career / life fulfillment
- How winning the Red Bull account back in 2008 utterly shifted the trajectory of UltraSuperNew (USN)
- What it’s like running two creative agencies in two distinctly unique Asian markets (Japan / Singapore)
- Marc’s personnel structure and strategy relating to setting up operational success of USN
- An entertaining story involving a failed client pitch with a luxury automobile brand and the subsequent recapturing of the account
- A strategic redefining of the old adage ‘customer is king’ and how that plays into managing staff and building culture at USN
- How USN’s art galleries and exhibitions play into their company strategy, creative excellence and employee fulfillment initiatives
- A fascinating discussion on the intersection of advertising and its social and cultural impacts by way of exploring a USN Skyn Condoms client and case study
- The importance of fully investing oneself into Japanese culture in order to succeed in the market
- How Marc and his USN co-founder Tomo Murakami manage to keep the creative inspiration high within USN
- Hear about some other fun things USN is playing around with including the launching of a virtual art gallery, leveraging the power of NFT’s and an artist residency program
- The immediate future of advertising as Marc sees it
- + Much more!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
In reference to identifying Ultrasupernew as a creative agency versus an advertising agency:
“Its more about the story. What is that creative part? What is the inside that you can find that you can use to make communication that will move the needle for that product or service or will reach people’s hearts, whether it’s humorous or whether it’s emotional. We are much more in that area rather than formalized advertising.”
-Marc Wesseling
Check out the Video Conversation:
For those who desire to view the full video conversation of this discussion, you can do so via Youtube.
Words of Wisdom:
Hear from Marc as he gives advice to those looking to enter the world of advertising.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Marc and his work, you can find out more about him via his company and through the following social platforms:
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!
