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Roland van der Vorst |
| Country Netherlands |
| Company They |
| Designation Co-founder and Director |
They Develop
THEY are group of nice people in Amsterdam who like to make brands grow.
THEY were born in Holland, Hamburg, and Hawaii.
THEY come from journalism, advertising, research, graffiti, DJing, and professional football.
THEY are AdAge 'International Small Agency of the Year' 2009.
THEY DEVELOP is their format factory. THEY DEVELOP believe the things THEY make just have to exist. THEY feel the world needs them. THEY DEVELOP make TV formats, publish books, film documentaries and are in the process of launching a champagne brand.
Bio
Dr. Roland van der Vorst (born 1969 in Tilburg, the Netherlands) has master’s degrees in Communication Sciences and Business Administration.
He started his career as a scientific researcher for the department of business administration at the Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. After a two-year stay at the University, he joined FHV/BBDO, the biggest advertising agency in the Netherlands at the time. Three years later he became the head of the planning department of FHV. During that period, the department expanded, offering a range of services from trend research to brand consultancy. In 2003 he became chairman of BBDO Netherlands, a group of communication companies. He combined this work with scientific research. In 2004 he published his PhD thesis “Branding, a systems theoretic perspective.” This thesis was nominated for the best PhD research by NOBEM, the Netherlands Organisation for Research in Business Economics and Management.
In 2005 he left BBDO to start his own agency, with a group of partners, called THEY. THEY is a boutique, well known for his campaigns for KPN Telecom, RVS Insurance, AEGON insurance and UPC broadband.
Apart from his work for THEY, van der Vorst is also chairman of the think tank that advices the Dutch prime minister and government on publicity issues. Van der Vorst also gives public speaking engagements in Holland and abroad.
For the last three years his scientific work was focused on curiosity. After extensive research van der Vorst constructed a new theory on how to induce curiosity. His book, called “Nieuwsgierigheid, hoe we elke dag worden verleid (Curiosity, how we are seduced every day), became an instant success. It reached a third edition in two months and won a national award for best-designed book of 2007. Roland just finished his new book called – HOOP – that was launched in November 2009.