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INTRO
Brabant’s no-nonsense mentality leading to global excellence “Again prestigious Pentawards for Studio Kluif”
Is it their roots: the region? Brabant is an economic,
and “worldwide excellence in packaging design”.
social, cultural and ecological strong region. Eind-
Impressive results this year once more for a
hoven has become a true centre of design with the
passionate but down to earth design studio just
Dutch Design Week and Design Academy. Histori-
around the corner here in the South of the Nether-
ans mention the boosting role of the region and the
lands.
down to earth mentality of rolling up your sleeves, finding innovative solutions and just make it hap-
About three years ago I discovered Studio Kluif,
pen. Characteristics that you recognise immedi-
being one of the jury members reviewing all kind
ately meeting the people behind Kluif and when you
of creative work coming from agencies based
enter their office. Is it this mentality and their guts
in Brabant. Although this competition is of course
and drive to do things differently, not following the
completely different (modestly said) from all
crowd?
international competition they face, their work, ranging from brand communication, corporate
What struck me every time again is the importance
identities and packaging design, always surprises
and power of good packaging design: no matter
and stands-out. For me it is often a ‘typical Kluif’.
how good the product is within, it wouldn’t sell
So what is this exactly? What makes their work
without a design reinforcing what the product or
‘typically Kluif’ for me?
brand stands for. Kluif stands out in understanding
their clients and the brands they work for.
feeling you have when you need this product badly.
Client briefings often contain too many messages
Also Uncle Orange, contemporary mugs, a proof of
and product benefits marketeers want to bring
packaging that reinforces a story, the story of lone-
across: it’s tough to make choices/kill your dar-
liness. Clever how it brings young and old together.
lings. Single minded messaging however is most
And last but not least, one of the Pentaward winners:
powerful, and understanding the brand’s DNA is
‘Go out!’ A series of toys of a Dutch retailer Blokker:
crucial. Kluif brings focus and delivers daring, pow-
where powerful design reinforces the message and
erful, uncompromising work. Needless to say they
insight that best days indeed should always end in
use the same method for their work for identities,
dirty clothes.
campaigns and product design. I wish you fun and a lot of inspiration reading the This book, like the previous ones, proves that unique
book. Reading it myself, it makes me proud. Proud
design can be entertaining and is truly inspiring.
of this work created here, just around the corner.
Even not knowing all brands, the messages are clear. The designs tell a story and are often based on an insight that we all know and recognise. Few
Cheers! Esther de Vilder
favourites of me are Painkiller: spot-on the way the
Head global Communications
typeface is used and how the picture illustrates the
at Royal Swinkels Family Brewers
Dare to Differentiate Recently we organised our 8th retail loyalty
down their departments into small pieces, ranging
congress in Amsterdam. We organised this event
from product to client to activation to digital
for over 250 different grocery retailers coming from
departments with nobody anymore overseeing the
across the globe.
overall story.
This years theme was ‘dare to differentiate’. It was a call to action to all our clients, grocery retail, to
These changes demand a different approach. It’s
start elevating themselves out of what we call ‘the
about being fully aware that new generations want
sea of sameness’. Not only grocery retailers, but
to be addressed completely differently. It’s about
many other retailers and manufactures or brands
taking needs and desires as a starting point, which
have difficulty in figuring out how to stand out in the
needs to exceed the limits of your product or service,
crowd today.
addressing them as citizens not consumers.
Price and product are not the differentiation drivers
It’s about disrupting and daring design if you want
anymore, and while everybody talks about data
to create any stopping power in this new world
and digital, it’s about finding the right story and
where an average individual is being bombarded
continuously rejuvenate this and bring it to life.
with thousands of messages on a daily basis. It’s
What’s probably most fascinating is that stories and
about reaching to the heart of your consumer by
our ability to convey them have always been crucial
being more honest, open and emotional.
in the development of mankind in general and still are today.
On our last congress we had Jimmy Nelson, a world known photographer of native tribes, who started
The challenge is that many stories already have
with a personal story on how he was abused as
been told and that digital transformation has
a child at boarding school and that that specific
created an abundance of messages and different
experience drove him to the most remote places in
actors to tell them.
the world, where he, to his own surprise, found back
But also marketing organisations have changed
his trust and affection for other people. It’s a good
who are still responsible for this story, but have cut
example about how a much deeper and personal
story tells the relevance of his photography and the
Kluif helped us in bringing to life our business
people he portrayed.
solutions through the brilliant concept of gift boxes.
But also the agency world need to start taking
These 24 different boxes unfolded a story from
back their position on helping retailers, brands
retailer insights into the consumers insight into the
and manufacturers to bring these scattered
the emotional sides of our brands and finally the
marketing departments together in one strong
loyalty and activation solutions we provide through
compelling story, through great content, design,
unique storytelling and design.
communication and experience.
A journey for Kluif who dared to dig deep into the mechanics of our business, the characteristics of
I met Paul over 3 years ago in a panel and I vividly
our clients, the many different brands we work for
remember he presented his Jheronimus Bosch
ranging from Disney, Star Wars to Jamie Oliver,
dinnerware items. An initiative in which he combined
Zwilling and Villeroy and Boch.
his entrepreneurial drive and passion for design. The result is a complete different way in which we try Although we had our own internal creative agency,
to connect our solutions to our clients. Taking their
I dared to look outside and invited Kluif to see if
challenge as a starting point and general unfolding
we, Brandloyalty a global provider of stamp based
a story towards what our solutions can do for
loyalty campaigns for grocery retailers, could do
them. A more daring, but differentiating approach
some collaboration. He first presented to me the
which at least helped us to differentiate versus the
classic tea cups with the grand mothers stories
competition, slightly elevating Brandloyalty out of
on the box. Brilliant how you could take a product
our own ‘sea off sameness’.
category like tea cups, through emotional content, design and authentic story telling, out of the sea
Regards,
of sameness of dinnerware were many brands
Marco van Bilsen
and manufacturers have found their grave in the
Global Marketing Director
recent decades.
Brandloyalty
Studio Kluif designed a menswear shirt collection for underground label Southbank Watson Outfitter UK. The limited-edition shirts are handmade. What makes the shirts unique is the use of the iconic button-eye idea in combination with the illustration. Kluif translated this idea for the button-eye gift box collection. On the gift box, the iconic black button with red yarn plays an unexpected important role resulting in an ‘eye-conic’ design. 30-35 client southbank watson outfitter uk, liverpool project button-eye shirt packaging year 2019 awards gold pentawards 2019, nomination people’s choice award 2019
Ede is a municipality in the Dutch province of Gelderland, to be found on the western flank of the Veluwe and the southern Gelderse Vallei. The municipality of Ede covers around 32,000 hectares, making it the 9th largest municipality in the Netherlands. Kluif designed a visual identity for the touristic sector of Ede with a natural feel. In addition to the general identity of Ede Marketing, Kluif made strong visuals for the top destinations and events that can be visited in the area. 74-75 client ede marketing, ede project poster campaign year 2019
On February 20, 2019, football icon Willem van Hanegem became 75 years old. According to FCK, van Hanegem was the best midfielder the Netherlands ever produced. FCK celebrated Willem’s birthday with a beautiful poster and shirt. 108-109 client fc kluif, ’s-hertogenbosch project ‘de kromme’ products year 2018 awards silver pentawards 2018, nomination bonk 2018
For years Zena has been the leading brand for badass fireworks. Their motto ‘Harder, Better, Faster’ says it all: original mind-blowing fireworks that make an everlasting impression. For all true Zena lovers that want to show off that they live and breath fireworks 24/7 Studio Kluif designed a line of shirts, sweaters and caps to compliment their lifestyle. Studio Kluif was also responsible for all the communication about this brand. 130-133 client zena fireworks, maaseik project zena merchandise campaign year 2019
140-141 client fatboy, ’s-hertogenbosch project cooper cappie designs ‘tjilp’ year 2018