Long regarded as a specialist in annual reports—a format it has completely reinvented into a genuine communication tool—The Crew has, over the past year, been working to change perceptions and position itself as a fully-fledged creative agency.

To support this transformation, The Crew’s founder, Luc de Tillesse, recently brought two creative talents on board: Iliana Couvez and Antoinette Ribas. We sat down with them to discuss the agency’s evolution.

How did The Crew come about?

Luc de Tillesse: In 1994, I was working at McCann-Erickson, where I was European Coordinator and a member of the board. After 14 years, I felt it was time for a change and wanted to launch my own agency. After a few attempts, I founded The Crew together with creative partner Robert Dassel.

Chance then played an important role. We were doing a few small assignments for Solvay when, one day, they approached us with what they considered a strategic project. I accepted immediately, before discovering it was an annual report.

At the time, agencies from Paris and London were still flying in or taking the train to pitch for this type of business. When we won the account, we realised it was something significant.

How did you stand out?

Our approach was simply to bring traditional creative thinking into the world of financial communications. That’s when we had the idea of separating the corporate section from the purely financial content. We turned that corporate dimension into a genuine communication tool for companies that, by nature, communicated very little. Solvay, for example, hardly communicated at all. The annual report became a true showcase for the company.

Once we started working with Solvay, everything accelerated. Three years later, almost the entire BEL 20 was among our clients. For roughly fifteen years, annual reports represented a major part of our business.

That’s also one of the reasons why The Crew remains relatively unknown in the traditional advertising world. Let’s be honest: annual reports aren’t exactly the most exciting topic for most people in the industry. Personally, though, that suited me perfectly.

Why the name The Crew?

It came from a conviction I had from the very beginning. At the time, I was heavily influenced by Benetton and its multicultural vision embodied by the slogan “United Colors”. I couldn’t imagine building a team made up of identical profiles or people who all thought the same way.

For me, diversity is fundamental. I wanted people from different cultures, backgrounds and sensitivities because I’m convinced it makes a team infinitely richer, both creatively and humanly. That has always been at the very heart of The Crew’s DNA.

A DNA that has evolved over time…

After many years focused primarily on annual reports and financial communications, I felt the need to reconnect with more traditional forms of communication. In the meantime, the financial crisis had happened and, above all, we had become associated with a very specific niche. And in this business, changing perceptions takes time.

Around that period, Robert left the agency and I deeply missed the creative dimension. Creativity has always been essential to me. I’ve always tried to nurture that culture within the agency: taking teams to exhibitions, discovering private collections, opening ourselves up to different forms of artistic expression.

There are countless parallels between art and advertising, and so many shared sources of inspiration. It’s actually a subject I’d love to write about one day.

Then, just over a year ago, I received a message from a young creative: Iliana Couvez. Her energy, her upbeat personality and her determination to challenge conventions immediately appealed to me. Very quickly, I felt there was a genuine connection and that we could build something together.

Iliana Couvez: After BBDO and TBWA, I was working at Happiness and, much like Luc when he was at McCann, I had reached a point where I wanted to experience a smaller structure and work in a more close-knit environment.

That’s how I first heard about The Crew, through several people in the industry. I also knew that Luc was very involved in the art world, which is something I’m deeply passionate about. At the time, I felt there could be a real connection between these two worlds: advertising creativity and a shared artistic sensibility.

What attracted me most was the opportunity to build something.

When I arrived, the agency was still at the beginning of this new chapter. I was eager to be part of that journey, but I quickly realised the challenge was enormous and that I couldn’t do it alone. That’s why I brought Antoinette Ribas on board.

Today, both of you lead the agency’s creative direction…

Antoinette Ribas: Initially, I was involved on a freelance basis. But what immediately attracted me was this feeling of being part of a new agency story. Despite the experience already in place, there’s a genuine start-up spirit at The Crew. We truly feel like we’re all building the same project together, and that’s incredibly motivating.

When a client comes on board and things go well, they immediately sense our commitment. We always go the extra mile, we invest ourselves fully, and the relationship is very direct. There’s a real sense of momentum: when you do great work, you see the impact quickly, and that fuels everyone’s motivation.

Clients also feel that, for us, this isn’t just a job. There’s genuine passion behind what we do. And I think that authenticity is what appeals to them. We genuinely want their projects to succeed, perform and deliver results.

A lot of our work also involves meaningful causes and purpose-driven projects, which is incredibly rewarding as creatives. It’s inspiring to put creativity at the service of initiatives that matter, or clients who share strong human values. Even the more traditional brands we work with are often led by truly inspiring people.

As a result, there’s no façade. When we present a project, clients can tell that we genuinely care and that we’re bringing a tremendous amount of energy to it. There’s also a constant sense of proximity. Creatives speak directly with clients, information flows quickly, everyone contributes ideas and feedback. The way we work is very much driven by a start-up mindset.

Iliana Couvez: What’s really enjoyable is that everyone feels actively involved in building the agency. People commit to it as if it were their own company, and that changes everything.

Of course, working for a large agency with a well-known name is rewarding, but you don’t necessarily find that same collective energy or that constant closeness. Here, everything is far more direct and human, whether with clients or within the team itself.

We’re building things together every day, and that creates a very different level of engagement.

What concrete steps have you taken to change the market’s perception of the agency?

When I arrived, I was surprised by some very basic things. For example, we didn’t have a proper credentials deck for pitches. We also didn’t have a website worthy of the name. As for social media, there were several different accounts that had been created over the years by former employees.

In short, our own communication simply wasn’t reflecting who we were or what we were capable of. The first things we did were therefore very simple but essential: bring some order back, rebuild a coherent image and learn how to present ourselves more effectively.

Then came the need to win pitches. And once that started happening, everything moved very quickly.

Speaking of growth, how has new business developed?

Luc de Tillesse: 2025 was an extremely important year for us. We won several major accounts, including Subaru Benelux, the Red Cross, Novartis BeLux and Merck.

We also renewed important partnerships with organisations such as AVIQ and the Braille League. In reality, we were working on all fronts simultaneously.

The strategy was twofold: strengthen our own communication while using those pitch wins to attract the right talent and build a strong team capable of supporting our ambitions, while still maintaining a relatively compact structure.

Do you already have examples of campaigns that reflect this new direction?

Antoinette Ribas: Absolutely. We recently submitted three projects to the Creative Belgium Awards: Torremolinos for AVIQ, Ode to Difference for the Belgian Cardiology League and The Yellow of Your Blood for the Red Cross.

Of course, it’s still early days. We’re not claiming to have produced groundbreaking case studies yet, but it’s an important first step.

We all firmly believe that creativity is what makes the difference. Today, everyone has access to the same tools, the same training and the same AI technologies. Many agencies are capable of delivering excellent service.

The real difference lies elsewhere. It lies in creativity, but also in the relationship with clients.

Some brands don’t enjoy being the small client of a large agency. Here, they become central to everything we do. We’re available, committed and responsive. Everyone is accessible, everyone joins the calls, and clients immediately feel that closeness.

They understand that their business genuinely matters to us and that we truly care about its success.

Now, our goal is to demonstrate just how much we can achieve creatively.