Creativity is alive and well in Amsterdam

Need a creative boost, go Dutch!

I spent the last week in Amsterdam and I came away incredibly energized.

I was in the Dutch city to participate in one of the great creative initiatives of our company called a “SWAT.” 

Like the tactical branch of the police force it’s named after, a SWAT puts together different creative people, from different parts of the world, each with different skill sets, all combined to focus on a single problem — for a fixed amount of time. 

On this project, we were focused on a single brand. And worked to crack a communication challenge. 

For the SWAT team we had folks from: Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Australia, South Africa, New York and of course our host city — Amsterdam. 

We had mostly young folks on this project with a few of us “oldsters” around. 

During the 5 days, I was impressed with the quality of the thinking and the writing. The quantity of the ideas. And the dexterity and sharpness of the art direction. 

I was also impressed with the ease of thinking in new places and spaces (that seem so alien to me) like Roblox and Twitch. 

It was also wonderful to partake in the interactive nature of the discussions. The back and forth.

The builds. 

And the magic when direction is given and the teams return with something that exceeds your expectation. 

We also worked horizontally — not simply vertically. 

Let me explain. 

We printed out the work on actual paper. (Remember paper?) And we put the work up on walls so we could see things “east to west,” left to right. 

We could take an idea from one area and marry it to somewhere else.

The world rarely does this anymore. 

Since Covid, we are constantly discussing ideas “vertically.” On screen. Up and down. North and south. Slide by slide. (NOT side-by-side). It’s hard to “connect the dots” when you only see one “dot” at a time. 

But I’m going to take this topic up at another point in another post.

Right now it’s back to Amsterdam.

This city itself is also a lovely cauldron of creativity. 

The architecture — old and new — is functional and inspiring. Our TBWA office is modern and fun. 

I also visited our 180 office, housed in an old Dutch building in the canals. This magnificent place is classic Dutch on the outside. Modern and functional on the inside. 

The streets of Amsterdam also show creative solutions to reducing the world’s carbon footprint. There are all manner of different and funky electric cars coursing through the city. And of course there are the ever-present mass proliferation of Amsterdam bicycles. 

I also had lots of creative food from pumpkin burritos to Indonesian-spiced cauliflower steaks. 

Last bit and most importantly are the people themselves. The Dutch are energetic, open, warm and funny. 

No passive-aggressiveness. 

Just aggressive charm. And an aggressive can-do spirit. 

And certainly on display these last 5 days, an irrepressible and indefatigable energy and creativity. 

So if you are feeling listless or un-creative, feed your mind and spirit with Amsterdam. 

And thank you, Dutchies and SWATers. Thank you for your creative energy. 

You certainly restored mine.