Allyens has been around for five years. Those have been five years of hard work to make society more inclusive. By breaking stereotypes, making communications more accessible, and bringing people together. So, obviously, we thought this would be a perfect time to look back on all of the amazing moments we experienced. Ready, Set, flashback!

It all started with the idealistic dream of two young, ambitious millennials who wanted to change the world. We felt frustrated because we couldn’t recognize ourselves in our environment. But instead of complaining, we decided to put our energy towards creating a society where we, and everyone else, could feel like we belong. Sounds too cheesy? Hang on. We recognized the huge impact communications and marketing have on society, so that’s where we started: changing the communication world. And, since we love to work efficiently, we decided to kill two birds with one stone: creating more representation for minorities in communication and giving these people a voice in society.

The first people who believed in us – next to ourselves, of course – were Tom De Cock (aka Belgium’s most creative radio host), and Maarten Janssen (who back then, was the channel manager of Ketnet, and now is the channel manager of VTM. Talking about an impressive resume!).

They really motivated us to take our ideas to the next level and into our first office space. If you can call 9m2 an office space. We soon found out our vision resonated with others, and it was not long before we got our first client: VRT Startup. We have to admit, we still had a lot to learn back then. When we showed VRT Startup our price proposals they nearly rolled on the floor laughing because our prices were so low.

One of the most cherished milestones upon this day is our Forbes Nomination. We got listed on Forbes 30 under 30 list of Media and Marketing, which means we are leaders in our industry. Those are Forbes’ words, not ours. Afterwards we worked together with bigger clients, started doing bigger campaigns, and made a bigger impact.

We learned quickly and worked hard. So hard, we actually had to hire employees to keep growing in 2018. And we kept growing throughout 2019, which turned out to be a crazy year. We almost couldn’t keep up with the demand for inclusive marketing. We met new clients, faced new challenges and saw the start of our first long partnerships with clients such as Bpost, Johnson & Johnson and Brussels Airport.

You didn’t think we’d stick to the Belgian market only, right? Turns out, Dutch people also like Allyens’ vision on inclusive communication. Needless to say, we’re proud to have worked with clients like Unilever and KRO-NCRV!

Right now, it’s hard to believe it’s only been five years since we introduced our concept of inclusive marketing. We started out with two, and now we’re working with a team of 10 wonderful human Allyens. That means we became three times as big compared to last year. Our organization is starting to get so complex, we hired an operations manager to save us!

And by the way, we are nominated for the Effie Awards 2020. A huge honor and recognition of all the hard work we’ve been doing. That’s exactly what we plan on doing for the next five years, at least.

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