Preacher opens in Amsterdam, seeing parallels to Austin

Independent agency Preacher is making its first move outside Texas by establishing a presence in Amsterdam, a city the shop’s founders were drawn to for its vibrant creative scene, not unlike Austin’s. A-List & Creativity Awards Enter for a chance to be recognized as the best in advertising Submit your entry here The 10-year-old agency’s leaders frame the expansion as less formal and goal-oriented than most office openings. In fact, they’re not even calling it an office but rather a “mission”—in keeping with the shop’s evangelical theme. The outpost has no office space yet and only minimal staff. Seth Gaffney, Preacher’s co-founder and chief strategy officer, has moved to Amsterdam full time with his family to launch the operation. He’s joined by Sabina Gorini, 72andSunny’s former head of legal relations, who’s helping Preacher put down roots as “mission director.” There are no launch clients and no firm plans for exactly what Preacher Amsterdam will be, or won’t be. Which is how the founders wanted it, preferring to get the lay of the land—and figure out how to add value—before making more solid plans. “A lot of times when agencies start a new office, it’s designed to grow a certain way and reach a certain monetary goal—or else,” said Krystle Loyland, Preacher’s co-founder and CEO. “We’re designing it to take whatever shape it’s going to take.” “We call it a mission so it won’t have so many parameters about what it is or isn’t,” said Rob Baird, co-founder and chief creative officer. “We can come to it with the same eyes wide open that we came to Austin with, and see what happens as we go.” A hub for business and talent Not that there aren’t fine business reasons to come to Amsterdam. It’s a hotbed of creative talent and energy. Many top brands have significant presences there. The agency scene is also well established, from homegrown shops such as 180 and the legendary KesselsKramer to imports including Wieden+Kennedy and 72andSunny. Gaffney, who spent lots of time in Amsterdam while working on Diageo business at Mother in the early 2010s, said Preacher has been meeting informally with some of the “usual suspects” in the brand world there. He also identified sports and spirits—big categories in Amsterdam and ones in which Preacher has experience—as possible avenues for initial client work. But finding other types of businesses to work with, and other ways to engage creatively in the city, is just as important, he said. “When we started Austin, we worked with startups because that’s what we were,” he said. “There’s obviously an entrepreneurial energy [in Amsterdam]. Where, exactly, an agency could fit in—it doesn’t mean we’re making ads tomorrow. We could be helping you define your story, or giving you a visual world that is credible.” Preacher also wants to embrace and enhance the city’s creative culture. It’s done this in Austin with initiatives including an art gallery and a quarterly journal called “The Good Word.” In Amsterdam, its involvement might be in music or film or art—or something else. “This is community-led, not client-led,” Gaffney said. “We felt that same off-center ambition meets laid-backness [in Amsterdam] as in Austin. Someone once described Amsterdam to me as a place ‘where everyone bikes but no one sweats.’ There’s something interesting about understanding that energy and how to add to it.” Also, Amsterdam will be celebrating its 750th anniverary next October—a momentous moment for the city that should bring all sorts of creative opportunities. “That’s a whole other energy,” said Gaffney. An exchange of ideas Preacher also sees the move not as a one-way export of an agency brand but as a two-way exchange of creative energy. The idea is to bring a bit of Austin to Amsterdam, but also vice versa—perhaps even more so. “We don’t think of Preacher Austin as being fully formed, knowing everything and then teaching that to Amsterdam,” said Loyland. “We might even be more nimble and experimental there, in a way that teaches us some things about how we work here.” “Sign painters [in Amsterdam] design differently because they’re working on boats more often than posters,” said Gaffney. “Printers are used to doing everything in multi-language. You meet a photographer working in new formats and you wonder if that could work for a project in Austin. The hope is Austin and Amsterdam inspire each other, and our people and our clients benefit from it.” A-List & Creativity Awards Enter for a chance to be recognized as the best in advertising Submit your entry here In terms of staff structure, Preacher envisions a trio of business, creative and strategy leads eventually running Amsterdam—much as Loyland, Baird and Gaffney do in Austin. (Gaffney said he’ll likely be in Amsterdam for the next two years at least.) Beyond that, the agency is open to different ways of working, including bringing people into different projects for short periods of time. “It’s not like ‘If we do a good job, we’ll be 20 people or 30 people.’ We might be six full time, but with 120 people in various European countries who we know would love to work with us,” said Gaffney. “Then the dream really happens—exposing more of our talent in Austin into the fold here, and vice versa.” The door is always open Preacher may not have office space in Amsterdam yet, but it does have a door it’s been carrying around, which says the agency is “open to everyone who knocks.” Agency doors have something of a history—Mad Dogs & Englishmen had a famous one—and Preacher hopes this one captures its spirit of geniality and the adventurous streak that’s been a Preacher trait from the beginning. The agency also recently hosted a welcome party for itself called “The First Supper,” inviting business and creative leaders from across the city to a dinner at the oldest horse arena in the Netherlands—giving the Dutch guests a little Texas flavor. Signs at the event read, “Wees lief and believe” (“Be kind and believe”), further signaling the agency’s move as a cross-cultural experiment. “We wanted to see if there was a way to rekindle, 10 years in, that same freedom of exploration we found in Austin, with a little more room to roam,” said Baird. “We have stability from a business perspective to be able to do this now,” added Loyland. “We’ve been calling this Preacher thing an experiment since the beginning. This is about ‘How can we scare ourselves a little bit again, but in a way we know we’re uniquely capable of doing?’” Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here

Preacher opens in Amsterdam, seeing parallels to Austin

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