• by Larissa Faw , February 8, 2016

SuperHeroes, an Amsterdam-founded creative agency, is opening a New York office headed by Rob Zuurbier,  who joined the agency from 360i. 

Zuurbier says the New York expansion is designed to provide an American home base to service the needs of its expanding global roster, including Converse, LG, Asus, and Heineken. It also serves as a bridge for European and Asian clients into the U.S. 

"People nowadays have the choice and the savvy to navigate massive amounts of brand messaging and content. We are not about amplifying with volume and frequency to combat the clutter. Wee are about creating razor-sharp, well curated and deliberately placed work that consumers engage with," he says.

The agency's first priority is staffing up. "We’ve got a core team of three at the moment, with a large chunk of Amsterdam support during the transition," says Zuurbier. "However, we do intend to build the NYC office as an independent unit serving the US market and we foresee significant head count growth in 2016." 

Zuurbier joins SuperHeroes, which will be based in Brooklyn, from 360i New York, where he served as group account director and has been part of the Dentsu Aegis network for nearly a decade, across affiliated agencies and offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, London and New York.

He has served as the business lead on brands such as Canon EMEA, Canon USA, Chevron, ScottsMiracle-Gro and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He also spent time at EMI Music Netherlands and Wieden+Kennedy’s Amsterdam office, where he worked on EA Games, Carlsberg and Nike. 

Still, there is the challenge in importing its European sensibilities. 

"SuperHeroes' work is bold and sometimes provocative or irreverent, and the European market is quite liberal," says Zuurbier. "The U.S. is more conservative, so our job is to adapt without really losing our edge. Having said that, at its core our approach is about connecting with universal emotions, which resonate in any part of the world."