GIEP

At the heart of this story is one of the most influential advertisers our country has ever known: Giep Franzen.

On January 2, 1967, the very first television commercial was broadcast in the Netherlands, marking a new era in advertising. Suddenly, those working in the industry discovered the power of ads, budgets grew, new agencies sprung up and a young generation of advertisers did away with the clichés of the previous decades. One of them was Giep Franzen (1932-2020), co-founder of the illustrious ad agency FHV and 'brand professor'.

Dutch Mad Men

'GIEP' is an Airborne Original and was developed by the Amsterdam audio agency Airborne, in close collaboration with SWOCC (Foundation for Scientific Research in Commercial Communication, founded in 1995 by Franzen). It was made possible in part by Adformatie and Ace, family of leading agencies.

Marvin Jacobs, Creative Director of Airborne: “With GIEP we wanted to create a deeper kind of Dutch 'Mad Men'. The goal was to tell a story that’s interesting for everyone, even if they’re not working in the advertising industry.”

Mary Hoogerbrugge is a patron of SWOCC: “It’s important for us to show that Giep's ideas about brands are still current and that you can make better - and above all more effective - advertising using a scientific approach. At the same time, we also want to tell a story that places advertising in a social context.”

Storytelling podcast

In this storytelling podcast, interviews with advertising executives from FHV’s very beginnings are interspersed with archival material, including old commercials. Journalist and podcast maker Liesbeth Rasker is the host. The first two episodes of ‘GIEP’ are available now; the rest will follow every Thursday for the next 4 weeks.

GIEP was made possible in part by Adformatie and Ace; family of leading agencies. 'GIEP' can be listened to on all regular podcast platforms.