how to stay sane as a creative director, with arjen klinkenberg (tony’s chocolonely)
Last month, Anne Miltenburg spoke to Arjen Klinkenberg, creative director and brand guru at Tony's Chocolonely. Arjen leads the brand development of Tony’s Chocolonely, from its first days as an activist TV reporter’s project to one of the biggest chocolate brands in Europe. We spoke about finding purpose in your work and how creatives can avoid burnout.
Find some of the gems Arjen shared below.
Members can watch the full recording or listen to the 20-minute audio recap of the live conversation between Anne and Arjen.
🧑🏻🎓 Being a novice is a strength
Before designing Tony's (in)famous chocolate bar wrapper, Arjen had never designed packaging. Without preconceived notions, he made decisions based on gut feelings, setting Tony's Chocolonely apart from traditional chocolate brands. By defying packaging norms Tony's stood out from the start.
👶 Question everything!
Arjen calls himself a professional 2-year-old. By questioning industry norms, he finds inroads to land that other brands have never even guessed at. “Why is milk chocolate packaging always blue?” “Why is a bar of chocolate divided in equal parts?”
Channel that toddler spirit!
🙅 You are not your brand
Brand builders can get their identities caught up in our brand’s identity. Arjen identified so deeply with the Tony’s brand. And other people identified him with it - calling him Tony. When your brand is on a high, so are you - when it dives, so do you. Recognize that you are not your brand, make sure other people can live it without you around, and set both yourself and your brand free.
🪚 You will learn by doing
In the early stages of the company, the team had no prior experience in the chocolate industry or FMC space. This quickly pushed them into a hands-on learning process. Learning by doing led to new products, concepts and even certification unique in the chocolate industry. Trust that you can figure it out - or find someone who can help you get there.
🎯 Identify what you're good at - and do that
It sometimes feels like it takes an 8-armed goddess to build a brand. You have to be able to shape design as well as copy, oversee marketing and event producers, manage a team... It never ends. Recognizing that you can't master all of these is ok - put someone next to you who complements your skill set.
⚽ Make yourself obsolete
Arjen mastered the brand personality so well - he was crucial to it. Everything in the company had to pass through his hands.
And he was burning out. He realized eventually that his job was to make himself obsolete. He went through a process of:
🧸 letting go
⚽ hiring good people
🪞 recognizing he is not a manager
🤜 getting a right hand who is
Thanks Arjen for sharing your story widely and generously!
More on the tony’s chocolonely brand
Read the full Tony's Chocolonely Brand Case Study. Arjen worked with us to unpack the entire brand from strategy to the guidelines for identity and creating great experiences.
Members can watch the full recording or listen to the 20-minute audio recap of the live conversation between Anne and Arjen.
Arjen presented the entire Tony’s Chocolonely brand story at the launch of Brand The Change, the book. Watch the recording on Youtube.