The distance between last rites and a second act, it turns out, can be measured in weeks.
KesselsKramer, the Amsterdam agency that spent three decades making advertising for people who claim not to like advertising, filed for bankruptcy last month and closed its famous studio-in-a-church. Then, with a speed that would have impressed even the most aggressive restructuring consultant, it reopened — same name, similar team, new church. (The new one is a former monastery in the red light district, which feels almost too on the nose for an agency that has always cultivated a certain holy irreverence.)
Maartje Slijpen and Rens de Jonge, the creative directors leading the reborn shop, say the collapse was both an industry-wide condition and a very specific calamity: three major clients pulling back in rapid succession. "One you can handle," Mr. de Jonge said. "Two becomes quite a big problem. And three is the end."
What makes the story unsettling is that KesselsKramer was not, by its own account, an agency in decline. Four campaigns went live in the three weeks between redundancy and rebirth. "Cycling into Amsterdam and passing fresh work that we were really proud of — it felt really strange," Ms. Slijpen said.
The rescue came from Boon, a backer whose offer, Ms. Slijpen said, produced an "unexpectedly good" feeling. The condition that mattered most to the surviving partners was independence, which has been the agency's operating principle since Erik Kessels founded it in the mid-1990s. "We can do whatever we want and what we feel is good work," Mr. de Jonge said. "This restart is no different."
Gijs van den Berg, a former creative partner who chose not to return, offered his own benediction from the outside. "There's nothing but pride there," he said. "It's a nice thought that it lives on."
The faithful, apparently, do not always have to scatter when the church closes. Sometimes they just find another building.
Original story published in The Drum: "KesselsKramer is dead, long live KesselsKramer! | The Drum"