Edelman Amsterdam has announced the appointment of Dutch marketing communications heavyweight Michiel de Vries as Managing Director Brand.
In this newly created role, Michiel will be responsible for driving forward the office’s brand offer and helping current and new clients to move towards integration.
Michiel’s career spans a diverse mix of agency and in-house roles including Y&R, Porter Novelli, Coca-Cola, Yacht, freelance assignments at NS, Kellogg’s and Mercedes-Benz and in recent years, board-level appointments at a private bank and at ARTIS Royal Zoo. He has also mentored Dutch rising star companies as an EU Business Coach.
Extending the leadership team at a brand level and accelerating the agency’s brand offering is the latest building block in Edelman Amsterdam’s five-year-long transformation journey. Indeed, the way the office has consistently built-up in-house content production, brand campaign development and identity creative services, digital marketing, strategy, data science capabilities and financial crisis and risk management work for clients saw it scoop the prestigious Sabres Award for Benelux Agencies of the Year last year.
Edelman Amsterdam’s General Manager Steven Heywood said: ‘Michiel has the flair to lead and inspire specialist teams and global and local brands as they move towards bold integrated work and that is just the profile we need to drive forward our brand practice. In a world where we need marketing comms leaders to help create and deliver ideas that build trust and deliver big commercial impact for clients – his significant commercial and boardroom experience as a brand builder, networker and passionate storyteller across sectors makes him an exciting addition to our world-class team here in Amsterdam’.
Added Michiel, ‘In my new role as MD Brand I look forward to introducing my expertise, passion for brands and professional network to an agency of world renown which has a mature, integrated marketing communications offering. Given today’s challenges in managing brand reputation around the globe it’s clear that building and protecting trust is more important than ever. I firmly believe that an agency like Edelman with its impressive background in managing perceptions and trust (it’s the core of their DNA), ability to support clients on both a local and global level as well as offering integrated, full-service creative strategy and services helps clients to manage brand reputations in the best possible way. ‘
