Sid Lee to Close Its Amsterdam Office and Consolidate in Paris

By Patrick Coffee 

Sid Lee, the international creative agency network acquired by Japan’s Hakuhodo DY Holdings last summer, will be closing its Amsterdam office at the end of this month to consolidate all European operations in Paris.

The office opened in 2008 as part of a network that currently employs approximately 600 — according to LinkedIn — in Amsterdam, Montreal, New York, Paris, Toronto and Los Angeles.

A statement from founder and CEO Jean-François Bouchard:

Advertisement

“For 10 years, Sid Lee Paris has distinguished itself by its capacity to realize impactful creative communication campaigns in France, Europe and even internationally. The campaigns for Assassin’s Creed III, IV and V, Yellow Pages or We Were There for BNP Paribas are examples that demonstrate the creative force of the office. We want to invest in the Paris office to make our work even better for our clients.”

As a result of this move, Sid Lee Paris co-founder and executive creative director Sylvain Thirache will be promoted to the chairman role while co-founder and managing partner Johan Delpuech will take on the CEO title.

Sid Lee Paris will be moving into a new space at some point in 2017 as well “in order to support its growth and accommodate around one hundred collaborators.”

The reasons for the closing are unclear at this time, though an agency spokesperson told us today that it’s part of an effort to turn Sid Lee Paris into a more international agency serving clients all over Europe (most agencies located in France only serve French clients and markets). In a statement, Thirache said, “We dream of building an international agency based in Paris not simply just a French agency only covering France. We are already working on Pan-European, American and Asian projects with our Japanese partners.”

The agency is still determining where the members of its Amsterdam team will end up when the office officially closes on August 31st.

Bouchard added, “The choice to cease operations of our Amsterdam office wasn’t easy to take. The office has contributed greatly to the growth of Sid Lee and we thank all the talent who worked there over the years.”

Advertisement