Field
Strategy
Field
Strategy
Field
Strategy
Field
Strategy
Field
Strategy
it's tested
When something new needs to exist.
a new brand. a new direction. a new audience. a new category.
I test strategic ideas under real conditions.
to find out what works before major commitments are made.
I work by answering three simple questions clients often ask themselves:
+ What is actually true here?
+ What would work now?
+ How do we make it real?
FIELD WORK
Each project below is a designed situation that tested a strategic idea in the world. Some were commissioned, some were self-initiated.
RED BULL
How far can collaboration go before it breaks?
As part of a pilot for Red Bull’s Creative Studio, the question was how much conceptual discomfort a brand and a museum would tolerate in a shared cultural space. How much freedom a brand would allow, and how much autonomy a museum would give up. By recreating well-known artworks in strict Red Bull brand colors, both institutions were forced to explicitly approve or reject the work, making their limits visible in practice.
RED BULL
How far can collaboration go before it breaks?
As part of a pilot for Red Bull’s Creative Studio, the question was how much conceptual discomfort a brand and a museum would tolerate in a shared cultural space. How much freedom a brand would allow, and how much autonomy a museum would give up. By recreating well-known artworks in strict Red Bull brand colors, both institutions were forced to explicitly approve or reject the work, making their limits visible in practice.
CONCRETE DUNKS
How does hype make something valuable?
To understand how brands like Nike create value, I attempted to generate value for something inherently worthless: unwearable concrete sneaker replicas. By placing them illegally in front of ten well-known sneaker stores across cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin, and letting hype, mystery, and circulation take over, the project generated attention and secondary value for an object with no functional use.
AND ACTION
How can we creatively prototype an industry assumption?
In advertising, a common belief is that products are best understood through use rather than explanation. To test that assumption, I designed a small, controlled experiment in which a handful of filmmakers were given an almost impossible task that could only be solved by relying on the product’s core capability. The results provided concrete evidence of how the product is experienced and valued in real creative conditions, helping guide how it could be positioned and communicated.
CENTRAAL MUSEUM
How can participation shape a brand identity?
The museum’s ambition to embrace Joseph Beuys’ idea that “everyone is an artist” created internal tension around authorship and authority. I prototyped that tension by creating a digital system in which visitors collectively shaped a living visual identity for the museum. The identity shifted from a single controlled image to a distributed system shaped by participation.
beyond the field
The projects above are one part of a longer independent practice spanning brand strategy, creative direction, positioning and early-stage direction.
For twenty-five years I’ve worked with Nike, Red Bull, O'Neill, Giant Bicycles, adidas, Sony Music, Vice, and cultural institutions across Europe and North America.
Field Strategy is one of many tools inside that practice.
Sometimes it’s the right one.
Jurjen Semeijn
Independent strategist, director, and designer.
Amsterdam, NL
Worldwide