Rémi Babinet is Holding Out for a Big Move in 2016

How would you describe and reflect on 2015 for the industry, creatively speaking?

One of the big topics in 2015 has been ad blocking and how to get around it. The Martin Agency created Unskippable for Geico, I thought that was a very funny and creative approach. At BETC, we worked with D&AD to make a plug-in that replaced boring ads with great award-winning work.

It’s a great challenge for us in the industry to create ads that are entertaining enough for people not to skip, but share them.

What about your company’s creative performance; how much do you think you’ve grown this year?

We had a pretty good year. We were very proud to win a Grand Prix Effie for our Lacoste campaign but also other awards such as D&AD, Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, Webbies and, of course, shots Awards.

As usual, it has been a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun! We made safety demonstrations more entertaining with Air France, investigated why Unicorns are extinct with Canal+, re-built the internet with the 19th Century Search Engine for Ubisoft, launched POP Records with Universal, explored the world of sci-fi with Canal+ (" target="_blank">The Stone) and brought a monkey on a car chase with Peugeot (below).

What has your own best personal achievement been in the past 12 months and why?

At BETC we try to maintain the same level of creativity in everything we do. A project truly at the heart of the agency is the design of our future office and the work we have accomplished over the past months is probably one of my greatest achievements. Along with 12 design teams of different nationalities, we’ve been trying to create the best possible working environment by developing everything from chairs to tables to lamps and a library.

It is completely different from advertising but also just the same - the devil is in the details.

And looking ahead to 2016, what are you most excited about in terms of the industry and advertising?

In terms of creativity I always have high expectations - that is something that never changes. For BETC, I’m very excited about our move, 2016 will be a very important year for the agency.

In June we will be taking over the Magasins Généraux in Pantin, a former warehouse and 20,000 square meters of industrial Art Deco beauty. The building is perched on the Canal d’Ourq, the channel that ties old Paris together with Pantin, one brick in what is the future “Greater Paris”.

With the move we will be part of a bigger urban movement and we’re looking forward to integrating in our new neighbourhood, sometimes called the “Brooklyn of Paris”.

Also, I can’t wait to have the whole agency together under one roof again since we outgrew our current HQ years ago. A whole floor will be dedicated to creative production, music, design, film, photo, sound, technology, and POP Records will have its own studio.

Give us an example of a strategy/approach from a brand you’d like to see more of in 2016…

In France, we have rarely had a year so filled with overwhelming events. Between the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in January, the fast-growing, right-wing, National Front-party, the tragedy of the 13 November and the COP21 in December, we ask ourselves more than ever what the future will hold. 

During the Climate Conference in Paris, several brands were hacked by Brandalism, which took aim at some of the companies sponsoring the talks and installed 600 alternative ads all over the city. I thought that was very cool.

No Logo came out in 1999 and today we see how the development has gone from theory to action.

However, I think it’s pretty interesting to look at what’s happening around Volkswagen now after the revelations of the emissions scandal. At first, everyone was shocked – the gap between our ideas of what the brand stood for and what they had just done was huge. But as sales are going back up I begin to wonder if Volkswagen had managed so well to connect people with their brand that the mistakes instead of ruining the brand, simply descended human flaws and made Volkswagen even more real and human?

What’s your new year’s resolution, workwise or other?

Peace, love and champagne.

What one piece of advice would you give to the industry to take with it into 2016?

Simplicity, sincerity, engagement.