Yes, our company is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. In the advertising industry, that’s practically dinosaur territory. But as we like to say: we’re dinosaurs, just with a rocket on our backs. Our aim isn’t to emphasise ‘wow, look at how many years of experience we’ve got behind us’, but rather to be progressive innovators every year – true to our name.
AI? We use it. And we teach it too.
Artificial intelligence, social media and, in general, all the digital stimuli that surround us today place immense pressure on people. Everyone is afraid of something: of falling behind, of losing their job, or of AI-generated, hyper-targeted personalised content literally flooding their feed with news of macroeconomic crises and fear-mongering stories. How can we still remain productive in this environment?
For us, this isn’t just a thought experiment, but a matter of survival. We make a living from being creative and coming up with new ideas. And this requires a mindset that isn’t rigid. That’s why I’m pleased that we use AI internally in a way that makes our colleagues feel it doesn’t take anything away from them, but rather gives them something. It’s not an enemy, but an ally.
We developed our first AI-driven initiative 15 years ago; that’s when we began communicating about the future (primarily) within the ICT sector. We don’t believe the future will come ‘someday’. The future is here. Now. And we’re already living in it. In ALLEE’s spring campaign, for example, we created an installation where a robot mimicked visitors’ movements. That’s exactly what we wanted to show: technology isn’t alien to us if we’re in control of it.
But even though we ‘play’ with robots, we’re still very interested in what goes on inside people. That’s why we came up with Lazac too.
Motivation: our Lazac has been swimming against the tide for 15 years now
Our Lazac method is an HR innovation that we began using as our own internal motivation system, but which is now recognised and adapted worldwide. It’s a system that works well and has been recognised by many, from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to European innovation platforms.
What was the basic idea behind it? That we should not only recognise human values, but also consciously acknowledge them to one another. Because when people feel that they matter, they work, think and create differently.
Why is it good to work like this and to be a client like this?
Our colleagues enjoy being here. Not because we sit in pink balloons every day, but because we treat each other as human beings. We’re not afraid of transparency, we’re not afraid of experimentation, and we’re not afraid to say when we don’t bring any added value to something. Our clients sense this and appreciate it. We don’t have any unnecessary red tape; instead, we have genuine enthusiasm, a ‘I’ll give it my all’ attitude, and a team that doesn’t just deliver on the brief but thinks through it.
The next 25 years
As long as we’re interested in the problems as well as the solutions, as long as we care not only about strategies but also about people, and as long as ‘why’ matters more than ‘how much’, Progressive will truly remain progressive.
This series of articles is just getting started. Our aim is to show what it means to be Progressive today – both professionally and personally. And if a client, a colleague, or even a junior project manager says: “Finally, a place where they understand that it’s not just the deadline that matters”, then it will have been worth launching this series.
Follow the series! The next instalment is coming soon – it’ll be worth checking back!