Vandejong amsterdam

hellozuidas

012

A lively, cosmopolitan area thanks to a joint campaign.

ClientDe Complete Stad, Royaal Zuid, Zuidschans and Projectbureau Zuidas

AssignmentDevelop an area campaign that enhances Zuidas’s reputation and image as a residential neighbourhood.

SolutionBreathe life into Zuidas by linking businesspeople, the hospitality industry, companies and visitors.

Brand conceptMeeting. Hello World, Hello Zuidas, Hello You.

hello zuidas must exude a cosmopolitan air

a brand concept with a cheerful, positive tone of voice

Pr-machine

events agencydirector

Platform

radar

Presenter

Program

motivator

networker

host

inspirator guide

eye-opener

researcher

hello zuidas has multiple functions

Hello World!

Get down on your knees in a Zuidas street

and discover the world of the Diggers. The

Diggers live in a world below Zuidas and

are afraid of sunlight, fresh air and people.

One day, the three curious, brave Diggers

Coach, Pr and E trade their stuffy under-

ground life for a look at the world above

the surface. On their expedition, our heroes

discover a world full of fresh breezes and

tall buildings. They observe the residents of

Zuidas and report back on their adventures

to Diggers Headquarters. Slowly but surely,

the Diggers who stayed behind discover

that the world of Zuidas is a nice place to

be – maybe even for them?imaginary characters the diggers show the way to a new perspective on zuidas

The three housing consortia De Complete Stad, Royaal Zuid and Zuidschans seek to promote the Gershwin residential area in Zuidas. This presents a few com-munication challenges. The public associates Zuidas mainly with the business world, and the area has suf-fered negative publicity. In addition, Zuidas will remain under construction for several more years. How do you portray Zuidas as the Dutch rival to Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, Paris’s La Defense and London’s Canary Wharf when you can’t yet show much proof? The area’s success will depend on how well mar-ket parties and the city succeed in focusing attention on it in a consistent way. Vandejong therefore advised the housing consortia to cooperate with Projectbureau Zuidas on creating the right image for the area. This was the beginning of a Zuidas-wide area campaign.

hellozuidas

Houses sell better if they are situated in lively neigh-bourhoods. A lively Zuidas will attract more shops, restaurants, hotels, and visitors, too. Vandejong in-troduced the brand concept Hello World, Hello Zuidas, Hello You, centred around meeting and get-ting acquainted. The brand brings together everyone in Zuidas – developers, businesspeople, employees, restaurant and hotel staff, and visitors. They can make the area’s ambitions reality. Together, they can add life to Zuidas and then introduce the neighbourhood to the rest of Amsterdam and the world.

Towering ambition

In recent years, Amsterdam’s Zuidas district has devel-oped a strong reputation as a base and place of business for numerous multinational companies and organi-sations. Residential living and leisure, however, are completely new dimensions for the area, which will receive heavy investment in the coming years. Zuidas therefore needs to acquire the image of a new, attrac-tive part of Amsterdam. It is set to be one of the city’s hottest neighbourhoods, full of exceptional, exclusive, top-end restaurants, hotels and shops as well as arts, cultural, sporting and recreational facilities. Its tow-ering ambition and cosmopolitan air will set Zuidas clearly apart from Amsterdam’s other districts and contribute to the city’s strong international position.

Area promotion with a cosmopolitan air

Ambition like this calls for communication with a cos-mopolitan air. Vandejong identified four appropriate message pillars on which participating parties could base their communication and activities. 1. From living to lifestyle. Zuidas is not a tradi-tional residential area – it’s much more than that. In Zuidas, you’re not buying square metres but cubic me-tres. You’re not buying a home, you’re buying big-city life. Communication will make visible the area’s cos-mopolitan, lively atmosphere. New activities should stimulate this liveliness – practise what you preach! 2. The world at your doorstep. An international atmosphere already pervades Zuidas, thanks to the area’s architectural qualities, the presence of the mul-tinationals, and their expat employees. This atmos-phere is strengthened further by Zuidas’s status as an infrastructural junction, with a motorway, a railway line, and Schiphol airport a stone’s throw away. Zuidas connects Amsterdam with the rest of the world. That means its communication must take into account an international target group. 3. Think BIG. Zuidas’s ambition demands big thinking and grand gestures. This means its commu-nication should be above average in quality, with an easy self-confidence.4. Zuidas, Amsterdam. Zuidas is part of Amsterdam and brings something new to the city. We want direct

and open-minded communication that – like Amster-dam itself – is free and distinctive, with a twist. It chimes with the city’s three core values: innovation, creativity and the spirit of commerce.

Strategy of a joint brand

The Zuidas brand has many different initiators and will soon have even more owners and transmitters. Strategically involving active partners as brand am-bassadors will lead to a snowball effect. The first goal, then, is to mobilise all interested parties. For them, the brand is a communication platform they can use to make their activities visible. But it will also function as an events agency that will bring existing interna-tional events to Zuidas, encourage new initiatives, and organise activities itself. Finally, the brand will be a PR machine that bundles together activities going on in Zuidas and makes them visible in the media. The brand as a platform, events agency and PR machine will make the second goal possible: the attractive pres-entation of Zuidas to the public.

Meeting and getting acquainted

Hello Zuidas is a brand name with a strikingly open, simple, disarming character. It represents a positive view of the world. Its chief communication value lies in the way it combines grand ambitions with a human

scale. The brand centres around the idea of meeting and getting acquainted – whether it’s the world meet-ing Zuidas, Amsterdam discovering new sides of the neighbourhood, or active parties in Zuidas creating something new together. The brand is an invitation to help build Zuidas’s future. Hello Zuidas communicates interesting ideas and initiatives important to the area’s development (such as new store concepts, innovative forms of transport and sustainable building trends). It also invites the world to inspire the initiators of Zuidas. Hello Zuidas serves as a source of inspiration, showing people everything they can experience in Zuidas right now and, most of all, where the opportunities lie. Hello Zuidas doesn’t just dream about life in the neighbourhood, it actively creates it. Hello Zuidas exudes a cosmopolitan air and acts as a facilitator. Hello Zuidas collects plans and ideas, presents them in a clear manner, and brings to-gether the people who can realise them. Hello Zuidas can also function as a director, presenter, host, guide, researcher, radar system, networker, and eye-opener.

The world of Hello Zuidas

We designed the brand with an illustrator. A graph-ic style would allow Zuidas to be seen from a new perspective. An airy, friendly manner could suggest the liveliness that was not always yet present. Vande-jong worked with the French illustrator Geneviève

Gauckler, whose work strikes the right note of opti-mism and is lively and bubbling with energy. The look and feel of Gauckler’s work provide an appropriate counterweight to the current look and feel of Zuidas, whose street scene is dominated by large amounts of glass and steel and a businesslike atmosphere. The characteristics of Gauckler’s work complement the image desired for Zuidas: international, cosmopoli-tan, and intelligent with a twist. Her visual language places Zuidas on a human scale. Gauckler created friendly animated figures living in a colourful world. She elaborated the Hello Zuidas brand style and brought the characters – the Diggers – to life. These first residents of Zuidas live in an un-derground habitat. One day, three brave Diggers dare to go above the surface and discover a new world. We see all developments in Zuidas through their eyes, depicted in a surprising, inspiring way.

Running a campaign through creating life

Hello Zuidas is all about life. The campaign’s power and visibility will increase as parties that bring life to the area embrace the brand and run with it. We have therefore proposed an atypical media mix. We will not make advertisements and brochures talking about how lively Zuidas is but organise special activities to liter-ally bring life to the area. The campaign will consist of creating life. It therefore will focus first of all on

the doings of the parties currently active in Zuidas. It only makes sense to communicate with the mass public once you’ve got something to tell. The core of Hello Zuidas is a website where Zuidas’s various parties and functions can come together. Ambassadors will have their own pages for promot-ing their products and services – first to each other, and soon to the public. Ambassadors will be regularly invited to Hello Zuidas working lunches through the website. These sessions will enable new encounters and inspire people to cooperate and create life in Zuidas – for example, by planning a stylish joint event intro-ducing the area to the public with special activities, such as Gordon Ramsay cooking at Gustavino, an ABN Amro master class featuring top international speakers, and Theater het Amsterdamse Bos staging performances on a building site. In this way, a virtuous circle will be created. Activities will create life, which will attract new target groups, making it more attractive to invest in more life. This, in turn, will yield content for communica-tion about Zuidas.

Vandejong & city and country promotion

Cities and countries were not designed to sell them-selves. After all, a place is essentially just a few square kilometres or tons of brick. Extraordinary life is what makes a place extraordinary. People create atmosphere.

In positioning a city, country, neighbourhood, street or building, Vandejong therefore asks: What are the future users’ needs? What is required to make the area lively? And: How can we involve the residents and businesses who will ultimately really make the place? A logo and a slogan aren’t enough. A place needs a substantive programme to unite people and a com-munication strategy that supports it. With this as a starting point, Vandejong develops campaigns to put places back on the map.

an introductory video presents hello zuidas to the area’s current users

the public campaign introduces the diggers

Coach: “waaah, E, what was that?” E: “A big, fast, shiny creature… it tried to hypnotise me… I think he suc-ceeded…” PR: “Yeah me too! I like it. More! Can we?”

They appear hol-low and strange. Silly Creatures are stepping in and out. The Diggers enter as well..

When no one was around we sneaked into the room ourselves. We could hardly wait to see what changes it would make in us.

You probably won’t believe this, but we dis-covered these odd little rooms that transform people.

In their first adventure they come up from Diggs Town, cross the ring road and are thrown up in the air when a car passes over their head.

After surviving the ring road they find themselves surrounded by big, luminous mountains.

about Vandejong

Vandejong is an enterprising, strategic, creative communications agency. We like to work with people who dare to forge new paths and believe in mutual inspiration. Vandejong stands for hon-est, sincere communication with a distinctive style. Our strategists and creatives work closely together on brands and campaigns. We bring in additional experts when necessary. We therefore contribute in a broad way, from brand concepts and creative strategies to concrete campaigns, materials, and even new services and products.

hello zuidas

strategy, concept and productionVandejong

in collaboration with:

illustrationsGeneviève Gauckler (Parijs)

text synopsis diggersHeleen Suèr

001 Foam A museum as brand002 neau World water for world citizens003 Foam magazine Exhibitions in a magazine004 anno We make history!005 university of twente We create futures006 Foam Fund Investment advice007 university of twente Start studying008 stichting Waterexpo 2010 A revolution in thinking about water009 un. giFt Fight human trafficking010 Cineville There’s a new town in town011 dutch ministry of Foreign affairs Alliances for a better world012 Various Consortia Hello Zuidas013 the groene hart The Randstad’s experimental garden014 City of amsterdam housing department 150 years of Wibaut015 Castrum Peregrini Intellectual playground016 Foam / anP historisch archief / museum of national history New greetings from...

Download the latest cases at vandejong.nl or request them from info@vandejong.nl

more informationIlse HuijgAgency managerilse@vandejong.nl

Contact ust: +31 20 462 2062e: info@vandejong.nl

vandejong.comblog.vandejong.com