After simmering in beta for the past six months, WE ARE Pi has now officially opened this week. The Amsterdam-based shop was founded by four ex-W+K Amsterdam folks–Jamie Kim, Rick Chant, Barney Hobson and Alex Bennett Grant–and counts clients including Deloitte, Lego, Bread & Butter, TEDx Amsterdam and Habitat For Humanity. If you were curious about the shop’s mission statement/concept, the Pi gang says, “WE ARE Pi will use creative storytelling, technology and interactive experiences to bake shared-value into communications for brands, causes and entertainment.” Sounds a bit familiar, don’t it?
Anyhow, the WAP founders say that for the past six months, they’ve been road-testing this “shared-value” proposition with partners such as Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels, Lowlands music festival, and NYC’s Uniform Project. As for background, Kim (pictured above, right) spent about three-and-a-half years at W+K Amsterdam and served as an interactive producer, Chant worked as a copywriter, Hobson was an AD and Bennett Grant spent three years during the same period as an account director.