Ralf Hesen

Background

About Ralf Hesen

In I was hired as e-Brand & Business Consultant by DDB Amsterdam. Two years later the DDB management asked me to lead DDB’s digital marketing start-up Tribal DDB Amsterdam. As Managing Partner I succeeded in growing Tribal DDB Amsterdam in an extremely turbulent market. Right in my first year the agency became the most awarded interactive marketing agency in The Netherlands. Tribal DDB Amsterdam collected awards for clients like McDonald’s and Achmea, and grew years in a row at a steady pace while many other interactive marketing agencies went out of business. After hiring my own successor in 2006, I was able to concentrate full time on strategic advice again. It’s not that I hate the managerial work, but I must confess my true passion is strategic and concept thinking. Throughout my years at the DDB agency I worked for clients Volkswagen, Unilever, KLM, Philips, McDonald's, Vodafone, Honda, Compaq, De Lotto, Novartis, Pfizer, adidas, TomTom, Achmea, Centraal Beheer, Zilveren Kruis and more. Quite some of the work for which I - together with different teams - was responsible as a Strategy Director, was awarded with national and international awards, like Cannes Lions, Webby Awards, Eurobest Awards (incl. Grand Prix) D & AD Pencils, SPIN Awards and ADCN Awards for Vodafone Get The Flow, KLM Bonding Buffet, KLM Care Tag, KLM The Beauty In Motion and KLM Fly Responsibly (2019). June 2020 I was personally awarded with an ADCN Lamp for the strategy of KLM Fly Responsibly. Quote from the jury:"The boldness of the action from KLM is what makes this stand out initially, however on closer inspection, it's really the true genius of the strategy that makes it stand out." Mid August 2020 I started as Marketing Lead at Independer.nl