5 Minutes with… Frank Marinus
Creative director at TBWA\Belgium Frank Marinus has worked for TBWA (on and off) since 1998, but the innovation he sees every day there has kept him loyal.
In that time he’s been Belgian creative of the year, won armfuls of awards and helped TBWA\Belgium become the country’s leading agency. What he’s learned in a small country with two cultures helped him a great deal when working as European creative director (for a while he was responsible for Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland and Romania). It also helped him again when he was working for TBWA in Tokyo and Shanghai, despite the culture shock he had to adapt to.
Back at TBWA\Belgium since the summer of 2017, Frank has been helping supermarket Delhaize to become a futureproof brand that people love. He’s also been heading the creative at VOLTAGE Brussels to turn Volkswagen into the car of every Belgian's life.
LBB’s Alex Reeves catches up with Frank.
LBB> How did you first get into advertising?
Frank> I was working as brand manager of SuperSport, the sports channel of payTV channel FilmNet. But the smart and funny IKEA newspaper ads of those days seemed like so much fun to make that I really wanted to become a copywriter and make stuff like that.
But I didn’t have a book, so no CD was interested. That’s when I decided to make the move to advertising as an account person, and I got hired by Quattro cdp.
At about the same time, a friend in advertising advised me to take part in a competition: Guillaume Van de Stighelen, the only real advertising guru Belgium ever had, was organising a contest to find new copywriters. I wasn’t too hot about the contest idea, but my mate convinced me, so I participated, I got selected as one of the 40 wannabee-copys and managed to win the contest. Thanks to Guillaume’s reputation, I was able to continue working at Quattro, but as a copywriter. Never regretted my move.
LBB> What are some clients or projects early in your career that really helped you to develop as a creative?
Frank> My first gold award was proactive work for Volkswagen. Make sure you know the vision and strategy of the brands you work for, it increases your chances of getting proactive work published.
But the brand that has made me grow the most was McDonald’s. It takes some time to get the McDo rules and to capture how it works between the brand people and their franchises. But once I got that, it turned out to be possible to find the sweet spot for good work to appear.
LBB> When did you first come to TBWA and what was it that has kept you in the collective for so much of your career?
Frank> Jan Macken asked me to become his teammate at TBWA in ‘98 and that worked out really fine. We became Belgian creatives of the year, won our first Cannes Lion in 2000, and became CDs in 2002. It never stopped being interesting. The agency kept on growing and has never been afraid to reinvent itself. New disciplines keep on emerging and TBWA keeps on adapting, so it just never got boring, I never saw the point of going somewhere else. TBWA has a wonderful group of talented people and a fantastic client list. And the network made it possible for me to work in Europe and Asia.
When I was young I thought I would have been gone by now, but I’m still around and still learning. The whole business has become a lot tougher and control-focused, but when I’m working on an innovative project with a clever and empowered client, it still feels like one of the greatest jobs on the planet.
LBB> You spent two years in Asia, first in Tokyo, then in Shanghai. What have you kept with you from that time?
Frank> The culture difference was quite radical. Working in a language I don’t understand forced me to ask a lot of questions and listen carefully before making creative decisions. I had to rely on the local teams for insights and cultural relevance. And work closely together in execution. In Japan I had to learn to carefully formulate my opinion, you don’t just say “That is a shit idea” in a meeting. In China I experienced the client/agency relationship is much more power-based than it is in Belgium. In general, I guess it made me more resilient, it made me realise the value of a good team, and how important culture is in communication.
LBB> TBWA\Belgium have won an Effie five years in a row for your work with the supermarket Delhaize – impressive! As a creative leader, what helps you to find the ideas that will actually solve business problems for clients?
Frank> Retail is fierce, and it’s non-stop, so an agency can really play a role. There are a couple of things that help to make work that works. First: we have a good relationship with Delhaize. They are demanding, but open to being challenged on their briefs and debriefs. Tough discussions sometimes, but always for the right reasons. Second: I’m working with a couple of smart planners and a dedicated creative team of 10 people who know the brand really well. Clever, hands-on, fast and not happy with the easy solutions. They have learned not to come up with ideas that have huge operational consequences, and they have developed a distinctive tone of voice for Delhaize. That’s how we manage to create ‘Belhaize’, ‘Little Lions’ or ‘SuperPlus’.
LBB> What have you been most proud of recently and why?
Frank> The ‘Car of your Life’ platform for Volkswagen. In short: the sexiest Volkswagens are, well, from a little while ago. And the recent focus on the electric ID. range made the Volkswagen brand suffer from a lack of attention. We convinced them to focus on the brand again, including old and new Volkswagens, electric and combustion ones, celebrating the role of a Volkswagen in your life: ‘the best thing about a Volkswagen is what you do with it’. The video launching the idea was pretty well received.
LBB> If a brand were to advertise to you successfully, what should they do?
Frank> Do stuff that I notice, and earn my attention in a funny, intriguing or surprising way. Make sure it doesn’t feel like a waste of time. Make me feel something. Don’t treat me like a five-year-old or a moron, and don’t shout at me without a reason.
