IMA opens Amsterdam office with launch of IMA Benelux

Leeds-headquartered global creative agency IMA has launched IMA Benelux, a new office set up to speed up growth in the Benelux market and broaden its local services.

The Amsterdam hub brings together two Smollan Group agencies, Dutch Moving Media and Hamilton Bright Events, under the IMA Benelux name.

The move combines IMA’s experiential capability in the Netherlands and Belgium into a single Benelux offer. It will be supported by IMA Europe and fully integrated with IMA’s wider marketing services and its strategic proposition, ‘Creating Connections People Buy’.

IMA Benelux, which is part of The Smollan Group, is intended to take the local offer beyond events and activation and connect clients with IMA’s wider operations across Europe. The team already works with tech brands Samsung and Phillips and will now be able to take on a broader range of work.

The business will be jointly led by Bart Manders as managing director and Nienke van ’t Schip as business unit director. They will set its strategy, drive commercial growth and oversee the expansion of the offer across the region.

The team will report directly to IMA chief executive James Henry, keeping it aligned with the wider European network and giving Benelux clients access to the agency’s full range of services.

In a joint statement, Manders and van ’t Schip said: “As co-leads of IMA Benelux, we are bringing together our combined strengths in activation, experiential events and commercial leadership to accelerate growth across the region.”

Henry said: “The launch of IMA Benelux is an important step in strengthening our European footprint. By uniting existing expertise under a dedicated Benelux proposition, we can better support brands looking for both local excellence and integrated multi-market delivery.”

IMA was founded in 1988 in Headingley, Leeds, originally to serve the large fashion directories emerging in the city at the time. Six years ago it went through a period of rapid growth, expanding its capabilities and client base and moving to the Malthouse in Leeds. It now offers paid, owned and earned media, strategy, brand consultancy, packaging, creative production, a full studio, DX and HX.

The agency employs more than 300 people across nine locations: Leeds, Manchester, London, New York, Sydney, Gibraltar, Cape Town, Dubai and now Amsterdam.