Our mission

We asked our mum: why are we here? Here’s what she said:
"Your goal in life will be to work for noble clients who are brave enough to embrace two KPI's: company profit and societal benefits. You’ll do that ASAP: as sustainably as possible, together with a great crew, in a healthy and profitable marketing and communication business.

Alright, so our mum didn't quite say that. But she taught us how to be a decent person. And potty trained. Another wonderful quality!

Culture
History
Partners
Team
WeAre
Partners in crime

Culture

We are defined by three words: connecting, open, strong.

We always build bridges, seek out and open up new connections. Because bridges take you places you've never gone before. We connect data with creativity. Governments with citizens. Marketing with concepts. Intuition with technology. Weird with wonderful. Analysis with wild ideas. Partnerships make us happy.

We’re curious listeners, eager learners and love to explore. Our aim is to change opinions, beliefs and behaviour for the better. We’re no exception ourselves. An open system needs to be strong. We honour skills, crafts, knowledge and antifragility. This gives us the power to do what we do.

We know power means nothing without technique, control and hard work. We are self-critical, steadfast and often more stubborn about our clients' goals than they themselves are. It's what you'll like about us, in the end. Just give it some time, OK?

History

Bridgeneers is a full service communication agency based in Leuven born in October of 2020, after the fusion of three partner companies: Absoluut, Absoluut Zulu and Lake Nimble. With more than 60 employees and a history dating back to 2003, when Absoluut was founded, Bridgeneers takes its place at the table of the greats. Or we can do take-out, that's cool. Gala dinners have never been our thing.

Fact: Bridgeneers used to be the name of our office in the heart of Shoreditch, London. With some open minded interpretation, you could say that we teamed up with a London Agency. Ok, sure, our own agency. But still.

Partners

You know: shareholders, and people who work on projects day in day out. There are no investors here. Managing is not off limits as long as the actual work takes priority.

Having spent more than 10 years working as the Creative Director at Slangen & Partners, Ronny Schildermans decided to set up his own agency in 2003.
His poster protesting against the occupation of Palestine (Will Ariel ever manage to get that cleaned up?) received international acclaim, and in London his 11.11.11 spot was hailed as one of the best fundraising campaigns in the world.
In his spare time, Ronny is a rocker. With his band ‘The Beautiful Babies’, he made Belpop history and won the silver medal at Humo’s Rock Rally ‘92. Ronny is married to Majella Boon, Production Manager at Bridgeneers. Add two teenagers and a rock ’n roll poodle, and you'll understand his life is never dull.

Creative Director

Ronny Schildermans

Joris Mateusen holds a law degree from the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) as well as a degree in media studies and IT. He started his career as a Strategic Planner at Slangen & Partners, after which he plunged straight into the media industry. Joris Mateusen specialises in behavioural change, campaign strategy, internal communication, brand strategy and positioning.
He has acted as an advisor to VDAB, 11.11.11, UNIZO, Carglass, VRT, Cyber Security Belgium, Flemish Authorities, Logeren in Vlaanderen Vakantieland, Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos, Leuven Mindgate, City of Ghent, Syntra, various Flemish and federal ministers, as well as members of parliament...

Strategic Director

Joris Mateusen

Tine Van Hove is a qualified journalist with a degree in communication science from the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). In 2008, she walked through the doors of Remy Tower for the very first time. Because she tends to linger, she's still here. Tine is our instant glue. Like no other Bridgeneer, she masters the art of connecting with customers and linking strategy with creation, production, etc.
Running a successful campaign comes natural to her. Just ask around at AP College, Accommodation in Flanders, the Department for Social Security, Public Health and Family, and Limburg.net.

Client Services Director

Tine van Hove

Piet juggles a family of three while firing on all cylinders as Head of Accounts. The man must have nerves of steel. He's also a media expert with many years of experience. He started his career as the Chief Editor at the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, and then joined CRM-Factory (now Head Office) where he became top account. In 2007, Bridgeneers were only too pleased to welcome Piet as part of their team.

At Unizo, 11.11.11, RSZ [Department of Social Security], and the various Flemish and federal authorities, he's known as a great project leader and a real ace at negotiating media partnerships.

Client Services Director

Piet Schepers

Thomas’ passion for all things digital is unparalleled. Armed with pen and paper, this digital strategist can tell you all about lead generation, content management systems, digital funnels and anything even remotely related. He can expound on the subject for hours on end - maybe his philosophy degree is partly to blame? Fortunately for us, he traded Plato and Socrates for the digital world early on. Today, he heads up our digital team.

Thomas not only promises stellar solutions for all web and social challenges, he also delivers on those promises. Before he made the switch to Bridgeneers, he earned his spurs at ‘The Parking Lot’ (now Nine o’clock somewhere) as an online producer.

Digital Director

Thomas Klein

Met 19 jaar VRT marketing ervaring op zak runt Majella de productieafdeling van Bridgeneers smooth. Voor elke film, radiospot of fotografieopdracht vindt ze de beste productiepartners. Haar netwerk is huge.

Daarnaast deelt ze samen met haar man Ronny Schildermans een paar fijne passies: 3 kinderen, waaronder één dwergpoedel, sporten met zware gewichten, Hitler docu’s op Canvas, en reizen. En veel liefde voor Barcelona.

Marketing Director

Majella Boon

Als geboren en getogen Leuvenaar was de verhuis van postcode 3000 naar 3001 voor Adriaan een grote cultuurshock. Gelukkig is hij die ondertussen al te boven gekomen en heeft hij z’n werkstekje gevonden in de Remytoren. Met ervaring in digitale campagnes en socialmediastrategie als digital marketeer bij HUMO en een achtergrond in mediaplanning en –buying bij Publicitas, helpt hij klanten kalm en doordacht met hun digitale projecten. Contentstrategie, audience creation, targeting en remarketing. U heeft er vast al van gehoord. Wel, Adriaan beheerst en beheert het allemaal.

Head of Digital Operations & Media

Adriaan De Raeymaeker

Team

You know: the people who do the actual work. Today there are more than 65 of us. And we all have our specialisms. Copywriters who think these web texts can be improved upon. Stubborn creatives. The accounts department who love a good joke, but never take their duties lightly. Strategists aka rebels and perfectionists rolled into one. Producers who do the actual work when it comes down to it.

We all strive for our noble goals, deadlines, and hopefully a piece of birthday cake with our coffee.

Our team also includes good people whom we cherish, and who help us meet those deadlines: external freelancers and suppliers, experts in video, photography, print, web development, PR and consultancy.

Want to be a Bridgeneer?

The network

Bridgeneers is a proud founder of We Are, an international network of fiercely independent agencies. In fact, our partner / head of strategy Joris Mateusen is its current president.

We Are provides us and our clients instant access to insights, experience, strategy and production capabilities for the local and global market.

Nice to know: We Are operates on a zero-markup policy. You get the network benefits without the network cost.

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