YFK Marketing is an agency with an innovative concept, operating in an innovative sector. It is no surprise that they reached the finals of De HET of 058, the entrepreneurs award of Leeuwarden.
By: Else Rietveld – photo: MerkMakers/Robbert Evers – English Translation: Max Bollen – also published in the ‘Huis aan Huis Leeuwarden en omstreken’ (door-to-door paper Leeuwarden and surroundings)
Talent in the north
YKF is a marketing agency with an extra mission: keeping young talent in the north, by having them supervised by a senior coach to work on projects for different clients. Founder and CEO Eva van Leeuwen worked in marketing for years and travelled across The Netherlands as consultant. ,,That was a beautiful time’’, she tells. ,,But I had so many meetings, that I questioned myself what I actually gained from it. Around me I saw young, fresh employees, full of good ideas, coming into organizations, but getting stuck after a few months. At the same time, I spoke to managers who tried in vain to keep those young employees. They were needed for the essential renewal of their organization. That gap, that where I jumped in with YFK.’’
YFK takes care of everything in the field of marketing, frommarket-research and strategy-development to the actual implementation. Residents of Leeuwarden have undoubtedly noticed the campaign for De Stormruiter (a huge, successful Leeuwarden-Fryslän 2018 production), which was taken care of by the employees of YFK together with NDC.
Innovation in innovative industry
,,These days, recently graduated young professionals think in innovative ways, they want to discover a lot, develop themselves, they like flexibility, and are not sensitive for consistency.’’, explains Van Leeuwen. ,,At YFK we make use of this by giving them the opportunity to look into different organizations, while guiding them well. The client is thus always assured of quality and innovative ideas. Our concept is new. And marketing means always constantly innovating and spotting trends. That is part of the job. In less than three years we have grown to a team of 13 marketers and we work for great companies.’’
De HET
YFK has been signed-up by another entrepreneur in Leeuwarden, Mascha Perquin, owner of Mama Mascha. Van Leeuwen: ,,We have been around for almost two years now and she experienced our stormy growth from close. It makes us proud that we are taken serious by entrepreneurs themselves. The nomination for De HET delivers us a wave of attention and new requests for projects from completely unfamiliar companies.’’
The voice of the audience
The audience is co-decisionmaker for the finals of De HET and can vote on the Facebook page of De HET. From the 4thto the 19thof March, the voting is accessible. Why vote for YFK? Van Leeuwen: ,,We help this region. By giving YFK more brand awareness, we can grow and guide more young professionals and show them that there is a future in the north. And therefore, we also help out local companies which are in need of good staff. We help them renew themselves, so they do not leave the region also. So it works both ways, with YFK providing the connection.’’
