Seenk is 20 years old: a new strategic vision, Vincent Desmet appointed General Manager

The independent agency, founded in 2000 by Clément Derock and Frédéric Lalande, specialises in strategic design and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Two decades of accompanying the change in identity of organisations in an increasingly digital world. Two decades that have allowed Seenk to make an obvious observation: this increasingly fast-moving world is in search of meaning and sustainability. Based on this observation and the evolution of the needs of brands and their clients, the agency is now proposing a new strategic vision of its business in order to continue its commitment to them: reinvesting in the quest for meaning in order to better express the difference of brands by shaping an identity that embodies the quintessence of their value.

To support this new vision, Vincent Desmet is taking over the management of Seenk. After 16 years with the agency, his mission is to embody and transmit this vision to the employees and all stakeholders. He will also develop the agency's activity by integrating new skills through experts and partners, and the implementation of new working methods, even more agile and collaborative.

Vincent Desmet, in charge of the general management of Seenk, expresses this new strategic vision:

« Today we live in a world where the past is fading, the present is agitated and the future is questionable. In this context, brands also have a societal role to play as indicators and landmarks...but the more speeches, images and symbols multiply, the more their meaning is lost. The company must reinvent itself and explore new horizons in order to respond to this need for meaning, which is inherent in mankind. Fighting back against the competition and investing in the trend is no longer enough.

In the face of noise, the attention crisis and the flight to the front, Seenk opposes the essential, too often secondary: what makes sense, what counts and what lasts. Today more than ever, the brands of the future are those that have found the right direction. Those that develop a clear and cohesive vision, a fair and true story that deserves a continuation.

It is to respond to this reality that at Seenk, we have become as much strategists as designers. Strategists attached to the concrete, to signs and their meaning to build lasting markers. Designers who are sensitive to the meaning that guides the brand to their history and to the way they want to fit into our time. Our sole mission is to accompany brands in order to give meaning to their lives and to those of their customers.»

Seenk Manifesto

The world is changing. Nothing new. It has always changed and will continue to do so.
But what we are seeing is that it has never changed so fast. Everything is accelerating. Some balances are upset by progressivism, others by the search for the absolute. Each new generation strives to get rid of its past, but its need for reference points is always present.

However, the race is on to see who can fill all the spaces, continuously feed the flow, adapt to every move of the competitors, jump on every new trend... react without aiming.

The result? Everyone gesticulates at a loss, runs very fast without always knowing where to go and tinkers without building anything.

What makes companies move are stories that deserve to be told, clear and cohesive visions, fair and sustainable forms of expression. The brand has the power to illuminate everyday simplicity if it builds a clear, salient and enduring narrative and markers. It can also offer a renewed vision of the world and open new doors capable of inspiring our actions and uniting the greatest number. At the end of the day, it is the unspeakable part of the story that brands carry that makes us adhere to them.

Without being a vector of meaning, a brand makes no mark. Without a solid foundation, no building can rise very high.

In the face of the crisis of attention, the flight from tomorrow, the loss of markers, we prefer what lasts and thrives. These symbols and images are stories that we need to believe in. They are often the object of the meaning we sometimes lack without even realising it.

It is up to us to recast our imaginations and shape new points of support.

This is why we call ourselves strategic designers. We put problem solving at the heart of our work. We design meaningful solutions before we give them form.

Let's ask ourselves where we're going before we rush in.

The design will guide the drawing, the meaning the signs, the message the medium.

Let's allow ourselves time to step back, explore what unites, weave the narrative thread that brings the marks to life to see how far it can take us. The future remains to be made, the present to be questioned.

Let's focus on what really matters.

‘Make it Matter’