PEOPLE
Masters to Watch: Stijn de Jong & Frank van Oudhuizen
Stuurmen is a branding agency specialized in building distinctive brands for premium products and services.
Stuurmen is a branding agency specialized in building catchy brands for premium products and services. MASTERS talked to founders Stijn de Jong and Frank van Oudhuizen: “There is a lot of mediocrity in the market, and that is fatal for business success. Market leaders are never mediocre.”
Kill off the average
Stijn: “We both studied Communication & Multimedia Design. At that time we were already freelancing. I also always joked 'I study next to work'. During our studies we did assignments together and we enjoyed the collaboration so much that we wanted to expand it further. Especially because we are on the same page, which is still our credo: 'Kill off the average.' There is a lot of mediocrity in the market, and that is fatal to business success. Market leaders are never mediocre. That was the starting point of Stuurmen, a branding agency specialized in building catchy brands for premium products and services. We work exclusively with companies that are keen to become or remain leading. Who dare to row against the current and are willing to do what it takes to take their company to a higher level. In short: companies that are worthy of the premium designation. We help them with their brand strategy: how do you communicate as an organization, how do you approach the target group, how do you ensure that you hire the right people? We also include the brand design in that process, from logo to naming and from color scheme to digital. We build websites and employ our own designers.” Franc: “When the two of us started, our activities were mainly focused on creating websites. We profiled ourselves as an internet agency that mainly worked on the website side. We have increasingly started to integrate branding into this.” Stijn: “The core of our branding is business, that's where it all starts. The more we know about a company and the better we know what customers want, the better we can build a brand. It's like watching the Discovery Channel when we visit a company: we learn everything about the company and the industry. We then want to define the unique value the organization has to offer and help unleash its unique potential. Ultimately, we translate it into a leading brand that resonates with the target group.”
Out of your mind
Franc: “Everything we create and build for a brand must align with the company's strategy. How can we help achieve a certain objective? We transcend mediocrity by, for example, integrating a certain form of humor. For example, we once had ten thousand editions of a magazine printed for a customer with something along the lines of 'Anyone who pays for this is not wise' on the cover in large letters. Because it suited the brand, the people who worked there and the direction they wanted to go. A traditional brand that is reserved in its expressions will not easily come to us. Most customers actually like our credo.” Stijn: “A good example is what used to be De Automobielfabriek, which specializes in Porsches. We entered into a re-branding process with them and came up with the name Triple&Crown, named after the most prestigious achievement in motorsport: when a racing driver wins the Indy 500, the Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Because the car company sets the bar high and strives for high-quality service and an offer to be jealous of, this was the right hook for us to hang the brand on. Triple&Crown has also started a racing team for which we do the branding: from racing suits to the Porsches in which they race.” Franc: “It is then obvious that you might incorporate three crowns into the logo. But we want to stay away from that, partly because we want to build the brands in such a way that they can last for a while. We don't want to record too many things, but rather leave room for a company to move. For example, if an extra service is added in a few years, everything still has to be right.”
Sum of interaction
Stijn: “Another example is Hyer, a private jet rental company, whose main platform is online. We also did all the branding for this, from a website with a plane that flies away when you scroll to a boarding pass for your mobile phone and a toiletry bag with shaving supplies, if the flight is long. It was great fun to work in this industry. What is still missing in our portfolio? I would like to do something in yacht building someday. Also because of the love for the product that plays there. How many man-hours do it take to develop a yacht? How much passion? And the materials used for that! High-end quality makes it easier for us to create something really good.” Franc: “We strive to show the customer our dream for their brand. That goes in all directions: from physical to digital, from how it feels to how it smells. We try to map out a total experience. We call that the sum of interaction. Everything that leads to the brand, makes the brand. And when everything has been finalized, it does not necessarily end: we also do brand monitoring and further development.” Stijn: “We stick to the core of the company: the business, the strategy. One of the nicest compliments we have ever received from a client is that we explained his own company to him.”
