This is a decade of activism. Agencies fight for change as voices for their clients all the time – change for women, change for the planet, change for minority groups. There have been agency voices here and there talking about the importance of creativity. But no agency has been actively fighting for creativity until now.

Cloudfactory has repositioned itself to provoke the advertising industry to do that. It has hired creative activists, Julio Álvarez and César García, to join managing director, Sandeep Chawla “to liberate creativity in our data-driven world. With more respect, simplicity and trust.”

Sure, the idea is a self-promotion but someone has to be given the glory for leading this change. Here is Cloudfactory’s manifesto:

Banking on like-mindedness

Sandeep Chawla: “I firmly believe advertising is all about chemistry. You can assemble the most talented people in the world in a room, but you will never get to great without like-mindedness. I believe we’ve met each other at the right time in both our journeys. And I’m equally convinced they are more than ready, seasoned and experienced enough to lead an international agency creatively.”

Resetting our culture

Sandeep Chawla: “As it says in our name, we will always have our ‘heads in the clouds, feet firmly on the ground’. We will always love to think big, but together with Julio & César we’ve reset how we work and behave. Clients come to an agency for a reason. To give them what they can’t do themselves. It’s foolish to shape ourselves to mirror them; it’s a sure-fire way of losing respect in the relationship. Also, all agencies seek creative glory. That’s table stakes in our business. But once that culture and like-mindedness – between clients and us – flows, great things happen.”

Testing the chemistry

“In fact, now more than ever, we place Respect, Simplicity and Trust (RST) on a pedestal. One that we know will truly unchain creativity, set it free! It’s also why we urge new clients to challenge us with small try-outs, to truly test the chemistry, instead of big mutual commitments and long-drawn-out pitches. At the end of the day, we would like to be perceived as an influence in shaping and resetting the industry we all wished we work for. To make a long story short: Cloudfactory is dead. Long live Cloudfactory!”

Something more

Álvarez & Garcia: “Looking back at the moments when we’ve done our best work, they all followed the same pattern: a handful of (very talented) people, decision-makers only, the right energy, ambition and a shared mission: freeing creativity. Cloudfactory is made of all these elements. A super talented core team, great freelance partners, an open collaboration mindset and the right chemistry. Ingredients that ensure they can deliver quality global work from a small boutique agency in the middle of Amsterdam.”

Álvarez: “We also believe that timing is everything. Sandeep, César and I were looking not only for something different, but for something more. We share a vision about this industry, a love for media-agnostic ideas, and the drive to put what we preach into practice.”

Creative activism

Garcia: “More specifically, our goal is to help brands release their creativity. These days, especially during Corona, most brands have gone a conservative path. Now, more than ever, we need to see creativity not as a source of risk, but as the best way to help brands be relevant and stand out. We believe it is time to take action and free creativity. That’s what we call creative activism.

“And to elaborate on what Sandeep says about ‘RST’, our ambition is to actually ‘reset’ the way our industry works. We need to Respect ideas and everyone involved in their making. Let’s stop selling ideas by the kilo and treat every brief – and each other – as an opportunity to do great work. Plus, we have to Simplify the process. Creativity doesn’t like hierarchy and oversized structures. And we need to build relationships based on Trust. The best creative work comes from collaborating with like-minded partners: bold clients, creative talent from all disciplines, cutting-edge production companies, and even with other independent agencies. But collaboration only works if there’s trust.

“In the end, we want to be the agency brands want to work with and creatives want to work for, because of its respect for creativity.”

Ready to fight

Álvarez: “We have all the traits of activists in our business: we are romantic, passionate, we believe a better way is possible. And we know the answer to our problems. Like in activism, it all starts with taking action, with believing that change is possible. And this change starts by setting creativity free.

“The way to do so is the way we work, the way we want to work, the way we’d love the whole industry to work. Creativity needs respect, simplicity, trust. These are values we are ready to fight for. For our clients, for this business, and for ourselves.”

Álvarez & Garcia have worked together as a creative team for over a decade in some of the most creative cities in the world – Amsterdam, LA, Madrid, Paris and Hong Kong – and have won all the creative awards that matter. They’ll tell you with pride they don’t just work in advertising, but that they’re advertising nerds.

Independent Amsterdam creative agency, Cloudfactory, was founded in 2012 and has been co-creating global and European campaigns for clients such as Booking.com, Heineken, Strongbow, Apple Bandit, adidas, KFC, Twitter and Johnson & Johnson ever since.