About two and a half years ago, Michiel Mol (Lost Boys, ForceField VR, Force India F1) and Stefan Nuijten (76interactive, PTTRNS, Forza Refurbished) founded the digital agency The Fightclub. Over the past few years, the three Breda-based agencies had already been working as one in practice, led by Cees Faes, Stefan Nuijten, Michiel Mol and Maarten Elshove. A true Brabant success story, with Fightclub even being named Best Digital Agency in the Netherlands last December.

Cees Faes: “We have been working closely together for years under three labels: The Communication Company as our creative agency, The Fightclub as the online marketing arm, and The Red Corner as our development branch for websites and apps. Most of our clients already work with more than one of our labels, and our way of working has become deeply integrated. So we felt it was time to move forward under a single name.

The only question was: which one?

The Communication Company seemed the obvious choice because it is the most well-known. But unlike 30 years ago, communication is no longer the full story. Turning smart campaigns into real sales, both online and offline, now makes up about half of our business. Sticking with the old name would not do us justice.

So we chose Fightclub. That name perfectly reflects our mindset and that of our clients. In today’s economic climate, marketing is a fight and everyone has something to win, whether that is market share, awards, sympathy or revenue.”

In recent years, consolidation has clearly become a trend in the media industry.

Large network agencies, often backed by private equity firms, have scaled up in pursuit of size and multidisciplinary strength. In Breda, they look at things differently.

Stefan Nuijten: "We do things differently from the established players. First, because we are 100 percent independent and do not have to report EBITDA to a head office in London or Paris. Every client we have, we won ourselves. They chose us for a reason, and that creates a very different energy. More importantly, we are not just integrated on the surface. We are one entity, front to back. Sixty-five specialists with one shared goal: hitting our clients' targets.

I truly believe we are one of the first agencies of a new generation of fully integrated firms. Sure, consolidation has been happening in our industry for a while. But if you look closely, it's often just a matter of putting the same logo on the front door. Behind the scenes, they are still separate businesses, with founders chasing their earn-outs, different account managers working toward different sales targets, often from different locations.

I have been in meetings where people from the same so-called group had to introduce themselves to each other. No one enjoys that. That's exactly why we do things fundamentally differently. One company, one P&L, one location, one point of contact and one ski trip. Because the left fist does not care if the right fist lands the knockout. That is the only way to get maximum ROI from your budget."