First days at Lemz

It's hard to tell how things are going in an agency from the first days. In the past it happened to me twice that the first briefings went so bad that my teampartner and I were kicked out within 2 weeks. It's what often happens to a team that wins awards in a too early stage of their career. We blamed the creative directors back then. But the expectations were simply too high and we simply couldn't live up to those as a junior team.

At Lemz the expectations are even higher. That's because they teamed me up with a Brazillian art-director with a great portfolio and considerable list of awards on his resume. See his portfolio here. It looks like a perfect match. Which also means the pressure to make outstanding work is even higher. Oh well, as a creative it's good to be a bit uncertain sometimes. Yesterday we had our first review and it went quite good.

The good thing about this agency is that an original insight or a big overall thought is more important than making just one outstanding ad. Also, the strategic planners play an important role in the concept development. They are participating instead of being a small cog in the wheel. I can't tell yet what kind of work this will lead to in the end. It will be good, solid work and I'm sure it will be effective, but will it be outstanding from a creative perspective?

This will remain a question for the time being. But one thing is for sure: it's very refreshing to work like this and I'm already glad that I've joined this little group of advertising professionals in the North of Amsterdam.