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."
[caption id="attachment_1146377" align="alignnone" width="810"] F1 Agency’s poster for the Fondes Amandes Bushfire Prevention Campaign using the image of a red howler monkey, won a gold Addy award.Photo courtesy F1 Agency. -[/caption]
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
