A mechanism of action guided by the experience curve
Unlike the world of simple Gatsby-style parties or retro fancy dress evenings, we like to take a thoughtful approach to our work – we build a narrative arc where the first stage is the ‘save the date’, and the final one is when the guest tells everyone they come into contact with all about the experience.
It’s not enough simply to send out the invitation and then wait for the day of the event. Our aim is to engage every guest well in advance of the event, to spark their interest, to make them want to come – and to ensure they actually do come. Once there, they should be exposed to stimuli that evoke precisely the experience we intended – and then carry those experiences back into their own circles. In today’s world, where people can get whatever they want at the touch of a button on their smart devices, it’s no small task to get them out of their armchairs and encourage them to be active.
For us, the whole process is a carefully crafted narrative: pre-event communication, the on-site experience, content, and post-event communication. Every detail counts – not just what the music is like or whether the dessert is sweet enough, but also how the participant feels, what they think, and what they go on to tell others. The aim is to forge a lasting connection through live communication.
Speaking of content – in-house production that’s fast, accurate and coherent
Events are increasingly driven by content. To achieve this, we develop everything in-house. We have our own motion designer, cameraman and creative team, who see the concept through from the invitation right through to the after-movie. We need to be just as adept at briefing and prompting as we are at drawing – AI has become an integral part of our workflows in the blink of an eye. Taken together, this ensures a fast, flexible and coherent way of working – not to mention a level of quality of which we can rightly be proud. Our extensive creative capacity also allows us to work with more in-depth, cinematic, literary or gamified solutions.
Taking responsibility: from sustainability to social unrest
Alongside business
considerations, environmental and social sustainability are also important, and I believe that, as an advertising agency, we have a responsibility in this regard. This concerns not only the footprint of our own – incidentally, audited – internal operations, but also how we work, which subcontractors we use, and what we incorporate into the services we provide to our clients.
For example, we collaborate with the Food Bank, but we also seek out and bring small civil society organisations – even those with just two members – that offer valuable content or solutions into the corporate environment. Integrating high-quality, sustainable partners and providing them with opportunities is one of the objectives of our own sustainability programme, GREENHUB. You can read more about this on our website.
Innovation and value on one platform
In September, our in-house gamified e-learning programme – developed in collaboration with WWF and U8 – will become available to businesses. The programme addresses the most pressing sustainability issues in a positive, easily accessible and gamified format, specifically designed as a tool for internal communication. We’ve put our all into this; it’s become more than just a new product: it’s a commitment to our values.
Personal projects and professional life converge
When we put our heart and soul into our work, the areas that matter to us as private individuals and the thoughts and ideas we bring to our work inevitably converge. For me, sustainability is not just a job, but a personal cause. Regenerative agriculture, ecotourism, fermented drinks, Natura Hill – in these projects, I champion the same philosophy as I do at Progressive: a liveable future, more humane systems, and high-quality products. And because these different worlds are constantly intertwined, I believe that this kind of authenticity and experience only strengthens our work at the advertising agency.
Our team’s professional strength lies in its diversity
And the team? It has never been homogeneous. We have members with degrees in economics, engineering, biology, law, pharmacy and the humanities. Perhaps this is why we work so well together: by combining a wide range of perspectives, we are not only strong professionally but also diverse in our ways of thinking.
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!