Omnicom-Backed dotdotdash Launches in Amsterdam

Experience innovation agency dotdotdash has officially opened its European hub in Amsterdam, marking a major milestone in its global expansion. Backed by Omnicom and known for work with brands such as Sony Honda Mobility and UBS, the agency aims to help businesses accelerate through connected design, emerging technology and strategic transformation.

The Amsterdam office is led by Chris Henderson, former managing director at AKQA Amsterdam, and Daniel Sytsma, previously of Dentsu Creative and Hypersolid. Having transitioned from industry competitors to co-founders, they bring complementary expertise in brand, business and experience strategy to dotdotdash’s new European model, joining the agency’s offices in Los Angeles, New York and Portland on the other side of the Atlantic.

At the heart of the offering are three accelerator programmes – experience, business and brand – designed to rapidly move clients from concept to delivery. A core team of eight is supported by a flexible international talent pool and AI-powered tools to scale innovation across product, brand and customer experience.

dotdotdash’s recent projects include a full rebrand for Wajer Yachts and digital repositioning for navigation platform Magic Lane. The Amsterdam launch coincides with the agency’s tenth anniversary and a global rebrand, positioning the city as a strategic base for growth across Europe’s most dynamic sectors.

LBB’s Alex Reeves spoke to Chris and Daniel to understand what’s most important about this addition to the agency landscape.

LBB> You’ve both come from other large, global agency networks – why was now the time to build something new within Omnicom, and what gap in the market are you solving for?

Chris & Daniel> Omnicom identified a clear client need in the areas of experience design and technology.

While most holding companies would typically pursue an M&A trajectory in such cases, along with all the integration challenges that come with it, we were asked to develop a new agency model, architected from the ground up for the era of living systems and exponential change.

We’ve been granted the freedom to not just be another agency within a holding group; we’re a principal-led, experience-first partner that can architect evolving brand ecosystems. Our experience running technology-centric businesses, combined with the explosion of AI and the demand for measurable business impact, made this the right moment to build an agency that’s as agile as a startup, but with the reach and resources of Omnicom.

LBB> You talk about experience, brand, and business acceleration. What does that mean in practice – and how does it differ from how most agencies structure their offer?

Chris & Daniel> Brands are looking for new ways to grow. Traditional methods and channels simply don’t cut it anymore, it requires true integrated thinking across business, brand and experience. For us, real acceleration only happens when you connect insights, ideas, and business outcomes from day one. We start every engagement by quantifying business impact using data modeling and analytics upfront, not as an afterthought.

Building a brand within a digital ecosystem has become much more complex. But when it's structured properly from the ground up, it allows you to be far more personal, relevant, and distinctive. That requires systems designed to deliver long-term value, and that's where we come in: we build the tools, experiences, and products to make that possible.

Instead of solving for a brief or a single format, we design adaptive systems, constantly optimizing and innovating where it matters most for growth.

LBB> You’ve launched with a lean team and access to a flexible global talent pool. What does that model enable that a traditional agency setup can’t?

Chris & Daniel> dotdotdash is designed for the pace and complexity of emerging industries. Our principal-led pods bring together multidisciplinary experts who are assembled for each challenge, drawn from the best global talent, and embedded directly with client teams. This model cuts time-to-market, unlocks breakthrough ideas, and lets us move quickly with clarity. Think of us like an elite creative strike team, purpose-built to solve the right problem. We have a project at the moment where data science, technology, experience design, brand strategy and product design are being run by dotdotdash, but cast from five different countries, and three different partnerships.

LBB> How do your AI tools and custom agents fit into the creative process - and are clients asking for this kind of integration, or are you leading that conversation?

Chris & Daniel> AI is woven into our DNA, not just as an internal accelerator but as a driver of new client value. dotOS is our living knowledge model, trained on our research, projects, and brand, to supercharge our teams’ expertise and efficiency.

Externally, we’re seeing a surge in client demand for modular, martech solutions that empower employees and unlock new experiences. We’re leading the conversation by showing clients how AI can move beyond automation to enable entirely new business models and customer experiences. We’re interested in how AI can enable what was previously impossible, versus doing the same thing faster and cheaper.

LBB> Why Amsterdam? What makes it the right location for your European base – not just culturally, but commercially?

Chris & Daniel> Amsterdam isn’t just our HQ, it’s our attitude. This city attracts the world’s most curious, unconventional thinkers, and fosters a spirit of openness and experimentation that’s in our DNA. For us, Amsterdam is a living lab for global creativity: centrally connected, yet always a bit offbeat. Its central timezone bridges the US and APAC, enabling the distributed teams model, providing access to talent in various markets and allowing us to be onsite with clients wherever and whenever we need to.

LBB> You’ve kicked things off with projects for Wajer Yachts and Magic Lane - what did those teach you about your own model in action?

Chris & Daniel> Our first projects proved the power of a principal-led, pod model. With Magic Lane, direct collaboration with their C-suite allowed us to accelerate a complete brand and product transformation in 12 weeks, something that would have taken a year in a traditional model.

With Wajer Yachts, we collaborated to rethink their experience ecosystem: a new brand system, enabled by a CGI pipeline allowed them to provide more interactive and engaging interactions across all their channels. The move to virtual production also unlocked a new approach to product launches, focussed on exclusive previews and lead-generation before the yacht even hits the water. This type of transformation requires deep alignment and an embedded principal approach to a client partnership. For us, every project is a chance to reinvent what’s possible, together.