F1's formula wins 12 gold ADDYs

F1 Agency is certainly not your average advertising agency.

It has no physical office, it fosters a family atmosphere, encourages creativity, and has a philosophy of helping clients and solving problems in new and innovative ways.

Tired of the traditional ways the advertising agencies they worked for were operating, F1 Agency directors Graham Dumbell and Albert Petzold left their jobs and decided to start a new business, one that would make a real difference for their clients and their employees.

Hence the use of F1, which is the help key on a keyboard.

Petzold told Business Day he worked for many years at other agencies locally and abroad, and realised, because of their business model and approach, the agencies were restricted with respect to human resources and specialists.

"They have a certain amount of people on the payroll so, in order to maximise their profits, you try to utilise the same people as much as possible, even if they are not the experts for the job."

He said F1 was a more agile, modern hybrid agency that focussed on talent and innovative thinking.

It worked with a large pool of people across the globe, and so were able to assign those who were best suited for any job.

Dumbell added, "It really comes from of being intentional. What we want to do is make a difference. We want to move the needle for our clients. We want their communications to be recognised. We want people feel inspired and delighted when they see our work, and we put everything in place to make that happen."

Winning 12 gold ADDY (American Advertising) Awards, the most gold awards of any company this year, certainly justified the chance they took. They also won one silver in the Ad Industry Self-Promotion Campaign category.

The gold awards included categories like Best of Public Service, Public Service Print – Single Unit, Public Service Out of Home Advertising, copywriting and Public Service Online/Interactive Campaign for the Fondes Amandes Bushfire Prevention Campaign.

Petzold, who is originally from Germany, explained the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project was one that educated people about the environment and reforestation.

As part of that programme, F1 portrayed the dangers of bushfires and how they could affect endangered species.

Working with experts on an AI-powered image maker tool, it portrayed the animals as desperate firefighters with the slogan "Don’t start what we can’t stop."

Last year F1 won seven Addy Awards, the most for a retail brand in the Caribbean.

In 2023 they won nine, in addition to the gold Angel Award which honoured the best in public service advertising by recognising campaigns that demonstrated exceptional results and execution.

Petzold said, "It justifies our approach. It's a feeling of gratification and satisfaction that we say, ‘We believe we are on the right path with what we are doing – to be creatively excellent, combining that with strategic excellence and winning clients with that.’

"So over the years we experienced growth, and we are getting invited to prestigious tenders and pitches from some of the biggest companies in Trinidad."

He said their mandate was to help organisations to communicate their goals – anything productive that helped the economy to grow, societies to prosper, create jobs, benefit the environment or to educate the public.

"We are not soldiers someone tries to hire and we just jump on it. We are careful with who we work with, and we discuss decisions like what we believe is acceptable, what helps society, what helps the economy.

"For example, tobacco. We would not do that because it's scientifically proven that in any form, in any dose, it's unhealthy for you."

They were very happy their thinking was beginning to resonate with companies as they were getting good feedback and the business was steadily building.

Dumbell and Petzold have worked in the advertising industry for 18 and 17 years respectively.

At one point they worked together and found they had similar issues with the industry.

They both saw ways they could make a bigger impact for their clients and wanted to do things differently, but their suggestions were ignored.

They eventually decided to go their own way to create a creative consultancy known for strategic thinking, research, an understanding of psychology and creative excellence.

When they formed F1 in 2020, they already had a network of people and some younger decision-makers gave them a chance. And as their work proved affective, marketing leaders were becoming more open to their "bold disruptive approach to creative excellence."

Petzold said they wanted to continue to grow as a business and share their business model with more people.

Part of that business model was teamwork and a minimisation of hierarchy.

To them, their employees were like family, so they focussed in human relations and found solutions to work around any personal, mental or physical problems.

"We want that people who work with us prosper and that they participate in the growth. Genuinely, we are not interested in getting rich. We want to prosper, we want a good life and we want the people who are working with us, who are supporting us, that they prosper too. And I think that philosophy makes us a bit different."

He said while they had targets, deadlines and wanted to make money like any other business, the overarching vision was bigger than that.

He said since creatives did not always perform best in an office environment they had on office which allowed people to find their own work/life balance.

Dumbell pointed out they were planning their virtual agency before covid19, but the pandemic accelerated the acceptance of their business model with clients. And it was virtual, not because employees were working remotely, but there were no borders to their talent pool, client base or resources.

He said, "There’s also the environment of excellence. If you're somebody who wants to do great work, which the people we work with are like minded, those strategic foundations, great creative briefs, the passion from the entire team, wanting to drive things forward... It's an inspiring situation to feed off each other."

They have worked with print, social and broadcast media, digital advertising as well as website and app development, and e-commerce.

They also collaborate with other agencies when they realise working together would be better for the client.

With about five years behind them, they have worked with local, regional and international clients including the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and organisations in the energy industry.

They hope to broaden their reach even more in the near future.