Agency behind Iamsterdam sign declared bankrupt

The Amsterdam advertising agency that created the Iamsterdam letters and the “worst hotel in the world” campaign has been declared bankrupt, after three major contracts fell through at the same time.

KesselsKramer, founded in 1996, was declared insolvent by the Amsterdam court on May 29, the public insolvency register shows. The agency had been granted a temporary suspension of payments two days earlier.

The trustee handling the case, Els Doornhein, said the board attributed the collapse to a combination of factors, but that the immediate trigger was the unexpected cancellation of three large commercial jobs.

The agency still employed 21 people and was fully operational at the time, according to the Financieel Dagblad, with campaigns for the Stedelijk Museum and the Holland Festival currently up around the city. A restart has not been ruled out.

Set up by Erik Kessels and Johan Kramer, KesselsKramer built its name on irreverent, anti-advertising work. Its breakthrough campaign sold the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel on its own shortcomings, including windowless rooms and dog mess at the door.

It went on to create the “I am Ben” telecoms campaign and the Iamsterdam slogan, designed by Kessels in 2004 for a city marketing competition. The red and white letters on Museumplein became one of the city’s most photographed spots before the council removed them from the centre in 2018.

The bankruptcy is an unsettling sign for the marketing industry, which is under growing pressure. Agencies are being squeezed by digitalisation and the shift to AI-made marketing, the FD reported, with budgets that are smaller and shorter-term.