Catch up with Sven Huberts, Isobar Netherlands MD & Director of Strategic Growth, EMEA
In our latest interview we spoke to Isobar’s Director of Strategic Growth for EMEA, and Isobar Netherlands Managing Director, Sven Huberts, to learn more about an innovation for Philips which took just two and a half weeks to deliver, his journey with Isobar so far and his thoughts on creativity and innovation.
You co-founded Marvellous in Amsterdam which was later acquired by Isobar. Can you tell us more about your journey?
I’ve been with Isobar for over 10 years now, so I’m a bit of an vintage Isobarian! The journey started when I co-founded Marvellous, a creatively-led mobile agency in Amsterdam. I was inspired to co-found Marvellous because at the time, mobile was destined to be the new platform for business and I wanted to reach the future faster. After some incredibly successful work, like Adidas Marathon Tracker, Marvellous was acquired by Isobar and I became MD of Isobar Netherlands. With a killer team we smashed our targets both from a culture, business and work point of view. Then in 2014 I took up the Isobar APAC Managing Director role, working with 12 markets in the region and winning Campaign Asia Agency Network of the Year three times. I then moved back to the Netherlands after my son Mick was born to be closer to friends and family! I’m now Director of Strategic Growth for EMEA and took the extra role to lead Isobar out of Amsterdam. It’s been such an incredible adventure so far!
Why is Amsterdam such a hub for creativity?
Amsterdam is a massively vivid alternative to other major creative cities like London and Paris. The combination that makes Amsterdam so creative and so different is its history and its liberal standpoint. We are historically a city of free thinkers, and creativity, design thinking and innovation has always played a huge part in pushing the city forward, making it a breeding ground for some of the best work in the world that’s recognised on many of the world’s stages like Cannes Lions.
You’ve been MD of Isobar Netherlands and Isobar APAC. What did you learn in APAC that you bought back to Amsterdam?
The emerging markets in Asia-Pacific are fascinating and I learnt so much from them. They all have entrepreneurialism in their working cultures, and create things at an incredible speed, taking advantage of the fact that they don’t have legacy systems to overcome, and they’re innovating on the ‘new’. This creates an amazing spring board to catapult ideas in businesses very quickly. This cultural attitude and way of working was fantastic to be part of, and something I’ve definitely learnt from.
Your team delivered an innovative digital service for Philips in under two weeks and showcased it at Cannes Lions. What was the hardest challenge to solve on that timeline?
Of course there were challenges to overcome, but nothing out of the ordinary or that took us by surprise. We covered the potential risks thanks to the rigorous planning that went into the project, the amazing Philips team for having confidence in us to deliver, and the incredible collaboration between the Amsterdam and US team we had working on the project. Delivering an AR-enabled digital service in just two and a half weeks was such a massive achievement. During our panel session with the Philips at Cannes Lions, the client said, “Two years ago I briefed a very well known digital agency to make a similar app, it took them over a year and more than £1m to design and build. Isobar made it in two and a half weeks, so you could say the way Isobar worked with us is the future.”
If you could get rid of one industry buzzword, what would it be and why?
One of the things I dislike about our industry is unnecessary bullshit. I’d get rid of “digital transformation” used wrongly. Looking at its definition — the transformation of business and organisational activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of a mix of digital technologies. I’ve seen it used incorrectly in so many presentations. Is a rich media ad really going to drive digital transformation for a client’s business…
Finally, tell us more about the innovation sprints you have been running with clients?
There are lots of agencies talking about innovation, and it’s key for clients. 84% of businesses say that innovation is a top priority, but only 6% are happy with their innovation process. At Isobar, our program for continuous innovation moves away from one-off experiments for clients, onto repetitive experiments on a subscription model basis, helping to increase success rates for clients’ innovation efforts. We have a number of success factors for innovation that we stick by — you need to break away from business as usual, ensure that it aligns what the business is trying to achieve, and continuously innovate. This means setting up a culture of failing fast and constantly innovating to achieve success. The innovation sprints for Philips focus on how we can use AR and voice to add value during the bathroom routine, bringing innovation back to something tangible.
