自2014年底MediaMonks宣布要在中国设立工作室以来，我们就一直在期待上海工作室的正式开幕。一个阳光明媚的午后，SHP+在戛纳与CEO Victor Knaap和上海执行制片Niels Monsieurs一起共进午餐，深入洞察MediaMonks的发展计划。
We’ve been anticipating the official opening of MediaMonks’ Shanghai studio since late 2014 when the company announced its intent to launch an office in China. On a sun-kissed Cannes afternoon, SHP+ joined CEO Victor Knaap and Shanghai EP Niels Monsieurs for lunch and an insight into their plans.
2011年，Knaap跟人一起成立公司之时，他并没有野心勃勃，他开玩笑说，“我们最初的目标就是要做点什么……之后事情就有点不受控制了”。他所说的“不受控制”其实是说公司现在在全球各地已经有了9个工作室，共600名员工。今年，MediaMonks总共有14个项目获得了戛纳国际创意节奖项，还获得了全场大奖，而在过去的五年内，总共摘得100多个戛纳奖项，同时他们也是“Experimmmmental”的共同组织者 – 这是戛纳创意节上最为人津津乐道的聚会之一。
Knaap’s ambitions were modest when he co-founded the company in 2001, “Our first goal was just to get out of the basement… and then it got a little bit out of control”, he jokes. Out of control, in this case meaning 600 people and nine offices worldwide. This year the company was involved in 14 Cannes Lions-winning projects and the Grand Prix for Good, adding up to over 100 Cannes awards in the past five years. and was co-organiser of ‘Experimmmmental’, one of the most talked-about parties of the festival.
MediaMonks作品混编｜MediaMonks’ Reel
MediaMonks是为数不多的集合数字、电影、虚拟现实和后期制作服务于一体的制作公司，同时还具备构建实体硬件的能力，他们在圣保罗和阿姆斯特丹都有实验室和技术专家。
MediaMonks is one of the few production companies that provide digital, film, VR and postproduction services, as well as the capability of building physical hardware, with labs and technologists in Sao Paulo and Amsterdam.
MediaMonks作品：乐高《幻界骑士之门》｜LEGO: Nexo Knights Portal, by MediaMonks
MediaMonks跟一些广告创意公司合作优化已有的概念，但是Knaap强调，他们自己并不是像创意公司那样，跟品牌直接合作，他说他“没有任何意愿要成为一家广告机构。”他解释道，“我们会就广告公司的创意想法进行发挥，这是我们的起点：我们可以创造实体产品，融入技术，让产品更智能，我们拍片子，来推广产品。成品就变成了广告。”他说很少有人意识到，他们其实有一个75人的后期团队。
The company works with or for creative agencies to elevate existing ideas, though Knaap stresses they do not work directly with brands as creatives, stating he has “no ambition whatsoever to become an agency.” After that, he explains, “we work with the creative idea of agencies and we take it from there: We can create the physical product, we add technology to it to make it smart and we shoot the film that promotes it. The product becomes the advertising.” Few realize, he adds, that they also boast a 75-person postproduction team.
MediaMonks作品：Nike《跑者成长计划》｜Nike: Nike+ Run Club, by MediaMonks
他们的计划是要在每一个区域设立一个工作室，可以做出有文化针对性又有洞察力的相关作品。2013年，他们在新加坡设立了首个亚洲工作室，取得成功之后，他们有了在上海设立永久办公室的想法，显而易见，中国的业务源源不断。现在，除了在非洲，他们在其他地方都设立了办公室。
The plan is to establish an office in every region that is capable of producing culture-specific, insightful and relevant work. The idea to open a permanent Shanghai office came after the success of the first Asia office in Singapore, opened in 2013, and it had become clear that China was becoming a rich source of work. Currently, Africa is the only region in which they do not have a presence.
MediaMonks作品，英特尔《重现历史》｜Intel: History Comes Alive, by MediaMonks
MediaMonks可以带来哪些东西，来填补中国数字广告产业的空缺呢？Knaap相信，首先他们可以带来高水平的精湛技艺，也会给市场带来完全不同的方法，现在中国的市场是“人们对待数字领域，思维仍然是‘我们也相信数字领域，我们还剩下10000块钱吗？还有一周的时间可以做点什么吗？’我们需要更多时间、更多预算、也需要更多投入、还要有更多人才，才能打造出优质的数字作品，而不只是拍一个30秒的电视广告而已。”
What can MediaMonks bring to China that is currently lacking in the digital commercial landscape? Firstly, Knaap believes, a superior level of craftsmanship and a completely different approach in a market where, “Digital is often still seen as ‘we also have a digital brief, do we have 10k left and a week to make something?’ You need more time, more budget, more dedication and a lot more talented people to be able to create a beautiful digital work than to shoot a 30 second TVC.”
MediaMonks作品，英特尔《重现历史》｜Intel: History Comes Alive, by MediaMonks
Monsieurs进一步说道，广告公司已经习惯把开发人员单纯的当做是供货商，但是对MediaMonks而言，他们公司内部有出色的开发者，可以贡献自己的创意，一起合作，帮助提升概念和流程。技术知识和对中国媒体格局的了解总是可以让我们与众不同。“有一些真正了解中国基本格局的开发者，不管是前端还是后端，都是最开始应有的标准”，Monsieurs如是说，“有能力做出最初的反应，这样的能力可以帮助创意团队。”
Monsieurs adds that agencies have become accustomed to regarding developers purely as vendors, whereas MediaMonks, with an in-house team of “rockstar” developers, offers creative and collaborative support that improves both the idea and process. Technical know-how and an understanding of the Chinese media infrastructure were always intended to be key differentiators. “Having developers that really understand the Chinese infrastructure, whether back-end or front-end, was the criteria to start”, says Monsieurs, “to be able to give initial responses, to have that proposition to help their creative teams.”
MediaMonks作品，百威《电音自拍》｜Budweiser: EDM Selfie, by MediaMonks
在中国，建立和维护技能高超的本地团队，说起来容易做起来却很难，尤其是数字人才更为如此。Knaap说，人员流动率很高可能是由于缺少数字领域项目，或者说工作缺少多样性造成的。去年，公司在全球范围能总共做了1960个数字领域的工作，他相信挑战不断，也有很多因素源源不断让他们的团队总有创意灵感。
Building and holding on to a skilled local team is easier said than done in China, especially with digital talent. Maybe though, says Knaap, the high turnover is due to either a lack of digital projects or a lack of diversity in the work. Having worked on 1960 digital jobs globally last year, he is confident there will be more than enough challenging, varied briefs coming in to keep his team creatively inspired.
MediaMonks作品，百威《电音自拍》｜Budweiser: EDM Selfie, by MediaMonks
此外，Knaap说，员工有机会调到世界各地其他办公室工作也是我们的独特之处，让他们有机会带来个人成长。所有这些因素都促成了我们的创意文化，让很多“Monks”从始至终都不离不弃。“如果前六个月能留下来，那一般都会一直留在这”，他解释道。
上海团队的工作地点是静安区新办公楼，现在这个团队有六个人，他们会和新加坡办公室20个全职员工共享资源和知识，也会共享人才。全球各地其他工作室的艺术家会以项目为单位飞来这里办公。
In addition, Knaap says the chance to transfer to another office worldwide presents opportunities for personal growth that artists cannot find elsewhere. All these factors have created a strong creative culture that has kept a number of ‘Monks’ with the company since the beginning. “If you survive the first 6 months with Media Monks, you tend to stick around”, he explains.
The Shanghai team, housed in a new Jing’An facility, currently stands at six but shares resources, knowledge and talent with the 20 FTE Singapore office. Artists will be flown in from the other worldwide locations to support on a project-by-project basis.
MediaMonks作品，宾得宝啤酒《向传奇致敬》｜Bundaberg: Cheers to a Legend, by MediaMonks
Monsieurs最初于2011年加入公司，后来有一段时间去了成都一家名为熊猫博士的游戏公司，去年9月份又回到这里，前同事Chen Zhang也跟着他一起加入，担任技术总监。
MediaMonks所进军的是一个臭名昭著又斤斤计较且缺乏国际制作公司的市场。新公司面临的最严峻的挑战之一就是如何稳住客户。针对这一点，Knaap只是告知客户他们的新加坡工作室已经做过好几个成功的中国项目，跟智威汤逊、雅酷、奥美等广告公司合作过，客户包括英特尔、耐克、百威啤酒等，而且他觉得每个月有三四个“真正很棒的”项目其实是一个很谦虚的目标。
Monsieurs first joined the company in 2011, and after a stint with a game company in Chengdu, Dr Panda, returned in September of last year, bringing former colleague Chen Zhang with him to fill the Technical Director position.
MediaMonks enters a notoriously unforgiving market starkly lacking in international production companies. One of the toughest challenges new companies face is securing new clients. To this, Knaap simply points to a slate of successful projects already executed for China from the Singapore office, with agencies like JWT, AKQA and Ogilvy for clients including Intel, Nike and Budweiser, and quotes what he feels is a modest target of three to four jobs per month that are “really, really good”.
MediaMonks作品，米其林《准备竞速》｜Michelin: Right2Race, by MediaMonks
Knaap也非常清楚眼前的诸多挑战，“人们也提醒我，不要单枪匹马在中国设立办公室，因为这是一个完全不同的世界，文化习俗都不同，”他解释说。对于这样的警醒他早已习惯，在互联网泡沫危机之时，很多人就提醒他不要进军数字领域，但他还是在2001年成立了公司。而对于中国，他有一种达观的态度，“当然，我们必须要适应中国的市场……但是我们忠实于自身的核心竞争力。我们只是不断关注质量、质量、质量。要向世人展示……如果把优秀的制作和好的创意想法结合起来，你可以创造奇迹……如果有人向MediaMonks展示一个创意概念，我们会将概念升华……需要一些时间才能让市场看到你，但是我们有时间。公司已经做了16年了，我们不着急。”
Knaap is well aware of the challenges ahead, “People warned me not to open up in China on our own because of the completely different world, culture and customs,” he explains. He is used to receiving such warnings though, having founded the company in 2001 during the depths of the dotcom crisis, despite people telling him not to do anything in the digital industry. On China, he remains philosophical, “Of course, we have to adjust to the Chinese market… but we stay true to our core competence. We just keep focusing on quality, quality, quality. It’s about showing… that magic will be created when you combine quality production with a good creative idea… When you bring a creative concept to MediaMonks, we elevate that idea… That takes time to explain to the market, but we have time. We’ve been in business for 16 years. We are not in a hurry.”
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