Amsterdam: CODE D’AZUR

CODE D’AZUR co-founder Nik Nieuwenhuijs is not a “do the job and shut the fuck up” type, which is why he ditched clients who shunned his input and grew his creative digital agency into a one-stop-shop, half-full of nerds, half-full of hipsters, completely full of a rare blend of creativity, strategy and techno-nous

Disruption, once the biggest buzzword in the creative technology sector, is now almost a hoary old cliché. Amsterdam-based creative digital agency CODE D’AZUR has a more original, refined, 2017-appropriate mantra: “Stand out and fit in”. As CEO Nik Nieuwenhuijs explains, this is less about disruption for disruption’s sake and more about “coming up with unconventional ideas, which actually add value to people’s daily lives, but at the same time fit in with the values people share and the technology they use.”

CODE D’AZUR’s blend of creativity, strategy and technology is something of a rarity in the Netherlands, according to Nieuwenhuijs. “You’ve got solid creative production companies and ad agencies, but I don’t think there’s another company with our profile doing what we do.”

Nieuwenhuijs oversees a 40-strong crew of “half-nerds, half-hipsters. We believe if you mix them up interesting things happen.” Whether it’s down to this geek-chic love-in or not, plenty of interesting things have happened since the agency launched as a two-man-band digital production company almost a decade ago.

Projects for long-standing client KLM have included Must See Map [below], a website where users could request travel tips from friends, which were then turned into a personalised printed map, and FlightFunding, a 24-hour ‘social experiment’ that petitioned the airline’s social media followers to crowdfund a flight for someone in need.

For domestic telecoms provider Tele2 Netherlands, the agency developed a multiplayer game for friends to physically play together by lining up their mobile devices, and rewarded speedy screenshotting teens on Snapchat with Snaptickets – the chance to meet their favourite stars. This year looks set to bring even more interesting things – international expansion plans, an AI bot and an innovative new project with KLM and Airbnb. 

It’s a long way from Amsterdam native Nieuwenhuijs’ beginnings as a self-taught Flash programmer back in 2000. After a week at Haarlem Business School, he shelved his economics textbooks and followed his sister into the ad trade, freelancing as a creative technologist at the likes of BBDO. Along the way he met graphic designer Jeroen Bijl, and in 2007 the pair combined their design and technology expertise, setting up a digital production company.

Being forced into commitment

Five years into “making cool interactive online stuff” for agencies, including the multi-award-winning, paedophile-ensnaring Sweetie for Terre des Hommes, Nieuwenhuijs became frustrated by a lack of autonomy. “[Agencies] weren’t looking for our creative input. I’d explain why something wasn’t going to work and be told, ‘Do your job and shut the fuck up.’ I woke up one morning and thought: ‘I don’t want to do this any more.’” 

Aiming to grow CODE D’AZUR into a full-service digital creative agency, Nieuwenhuijs poached his creative director sister from local agency Lemz, to head up his new creative department. The initial plan was to diversify the offering gradually, but then came the runaway success of the Must See Map campaign: “It started off as a campaign, but ended up as a sustainable service. That’s the ultimate achievement,” says Nieuwenhuijs. But it made agencies see CODE D’AZUR as competitors, not collaborators, and they stopped calling. “That fucked up the whole transition plan,” he laughs. “But on the good side it forced us to commit to that choice [to become a full-service digital creative agency].”  

The gamble seems to have paid off: CODE D’AZUR now offers brands a one-stop-shop for sustainable products and services, from concept to build. There’s a new office in Barcelona and plans for expansion beyond Europe this year. Although they’re currently experimenting with the hottest tech du jour, such as AI, bots and voice-driven interfaces, Nieuwenhuijs insists the agency has a technology-as-toolbox mentality. “We always choose the solution based on the problem, rather than specialising in a particular [technology]. So it could be bots, or it could be an app, or it could be content that people share and like, rather than skip and mute.”

One reason for opening the Barcelona office was the ease of recruiting “solid” tech specialists, thanks to the city’s superior universities and commitment to start-ups – Nieuwenhuijs has had something of a problem finding creative techy brains, companies such as Google creaming off the brightest and best from Amsterdam’s small talent pool. “[Holland] has a great heritage in design, but not so much in technology, particularly software,” he says. But the situation is set to improve with the Dutch government now investing heavily in its tech sector, and Nieuwenhuijs is confident about the future. “We’ve got all the creative capital under one roof to help grow companies and accelerate start-ups,” he says. “And that’s exciting.”