About me
I'm passionate about creating opportunity and connecting people; making each hub become their own wonderful 'place'? by celebrating the unique and cultivating the great; establishing inspiring brand relationships.
In the past I've learnt the most working on employer brand strategies, whilst looking after commercial communications and branding events. This has helped me develop the skills to create solid ideas that connect an audience with a brand, and build communities in online and offline spaces.
I've managed creative and designed communication for global multi-nationals and government, as well as consulted small and medium-sized companies on engagement strategy. Working from 3 hotspots, across 3 languages in The Hague, Paris and Sydney, I’ve worked with clients like; the Dutch and Australian Government, Canon, Coles, Avanade, Unilever, several big banks, L'Oreal, and GE.
What you get is a communications professional that turns the design job into so much more. I’ll help you build a network and generate new business opportunities via collaborative ideas, engagement strategies and communication design.
Specialties: Platform branding (All media), Employer Branding (All media), Commercial marketing strategy & design (All media in Trade and Retail), Community engagement strategy, Identity naming and design, Event branding, Publication design, Messaging strategy and Photography (City & Portrait).
Projects
- Grad Recruitment Campaign – The Suncorp GroupCONTRIBUTION: Sikko Baltus' responsibility was to come up with an overall concept, managing both copy and creative to translate the graduate value proposition to a comprehensive appealing brand message across a multi-media solution. BRIEF: Suncorp Group is one of Australia’s leaders in banking, insurance, investment and superannuation. The Group annually recruits graduates to support its diverse portfolio of services.??We were engaged to create a cohesive brand that emphasised the scale of th
- Interactive Engagement Unilever AustraliaCONTRIBUTION: Sikko's responsibility was to come up with 3 concepts and provide Art Direction of all campus creative in collaboration with the street chalk-artist to develop an appropriate visual that meets the client's vision and brand requirements. [at] Harteffect. OVERVIEW Unilever and Harteffect partnered to produce a multi-faceted 8-week national graduate attraction strategy which was aligned with Unilever’s existing global brand, “Made By You’. Harteffect provided strategy, design and experiential content. CHALLENGE The objective was to increase recognition and visibility of the Unilever brand, improve quality and quantity of graduate applicants and position Unilever as an employer of choice for high performing graduates. OUTCOME A large-scale 3D chalk art installation was designed to disrupt traffic, promote conversation and drive attendance to the careers fair. The installation at Monash University, involved audience participation, giveaways, ambassador interaction, props, and stop motion camera footage to a create a “Made By You” piece. Students were encouraged to take photos to upload onto social media. On top of that was a seeded brochure handed out with Lipton Ice Tea samples, directing students to create a living garden “Made By You”. Harteffect produced brochureware, uniforms and provided digital support across a variety of online applications.
- Graduate Recruitment: Dep. of DefenceCONTRIBUTION: Sikko provided the editorial concept and collectively developed creative with highly talented illustrator David Petzold. "This creative duo, with each their own input, have developed several fantastic work together." BRIEF: The Department of Defence-APSC (Civilian) recruits a diverse group of men and women that support the Australian Defence Force to protect Australia's interests.?We were engaged to create a singular brand to attract graduates to their graduate programs which represented the diverse range of departments. The challenge was to ensure we kept the integrity of each departments' brand whilst still creating a singular message. CHALLENGE: With a group of brands, we commenced the project conducting research into understanding their true and unique graduate value proposition as a collective. After conducting research a brand was developed and then validated back to the department. ?After regular feedback and a collaborative approach, we created a brand that met the objective and still maintained each departments unique offerings. OUTCOME: The campaign was released on campus in March 2013 which proved a great success. Anecdotally the feedback was positive both internally and externally and stakeholders were positive about the combined look and feel. Students liked the look and feel and stated that it assisted in the presentation of the Department as an Employer of Choice. From students surveyed, 80% said it was a preferred brand.
- 2 Concepts 1 Employer BrandCONTRIBUTION Sikko was co-responsible for both concepts and has been involved in developing concept and roll-out for both ideas to publications and media delivered to client. In strong collaboration with Head of Strategy, Meghan Campbell and Graphic Designer, David Petzold. [at]The Unimail Group. BRIEF Develop an Employer Value Proposition and Employer Brand. for which to rolling out an internal communications toolkit. CHALLENGE The large International scope of the company had to be able to resonate with the Value Proposition statement as well as creative and therefore be quite broad in approach. OUTCOME We presented 2 concepts each with their own interpretation of the Corporate brand device of the company: the orange square. The outcome turned out to be an editorial blend of the two and the client requested to re-align the employer brand concept with their corporate brand using the square. A rich photographic based creative is brought to life and currently rolled-out across various countries.
- Graduate Job Search Platform – UnigradContribution: Sikko was involved in the business strategy of the platform, provided Art Direction and Design across all media. as Graphic Designer [at] Unigrad Unigrad is thé platform for graduates to support them in their search for that perfect job to match. Adapting to the continuous fast evolving media, we've redesigned the platform to inform the reader in an open and clear way. A multi-channel go-to shop for career advice anytime anywhere.
- Canon Exhibition – The Digital ShowCONTRIBUTION: As "Canon guru" of the Harteffect team, Sikko was responsible for the complete layout, infrastructure and all creative of the exhibition, securing all details according to service and all products that had to be present on the show, respecting Canon brand standards. His knowledge of the Canon products and services had been of great value, guarding timeline and outcome to be on brief. BRIEF: We were engaged to designing, creating and executing the stand for Canons's participation at the Melbourne Digital Show – the focus being on engaging consumers with the band, products and services in an experimental and informative way. CHALLENGE: We went about designing the stand in a way that cemented Canon's leadership in end-to-end imaging, as well as engaging consumers and spurring on interactive conversations. OUTCOME: The finished product engaged consumers while simultaneously building the Canon database, helping drive sales conversations and grow the Canon community. The stand itself demonstrated to consumers how easy it is to get Creative with Canon’s end-to-end imaging solutions, while letting consumers have a ‘hands on’ experience.
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Work history
Freelance Senior Designer
INVOLVE is an engagement agency that creates live involving experiences to drive business growth. At only 6 months in; I've already designed fully integrated comms for HR channels: from repositioned strategy branding, numerous experiential pieces for (inter)national conferences and events to one-on-one toolkits for leadership trainings – a great variety of work.
Owner & Creative Director
As the owner and Creative Director of Hub Town City Ltd, I provide communication strategies, manage and design creative production; developing creative comms by using my conceptual thinking, design-expertise and connecting with a niche international network of people I trust.
Creating opportunity, connecting people and building brands.
www.hubtowncity.com
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Skills
- Marketing PR
- Art Direction
- Digital
- Design
- Strategic Planning
- Creative Direction
- Online Campaigns
- Outdoor Campaigns
- Print Campaigns
- Creative Thinking
- Illustrator
- Indesign
- Photoshop
- Powerpoint
Education
Graphic Design
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The Generalist approach of the Art Academy in Rotterdam has helped me to become a fully integrated design professional with a strong focus on brand strategies and interactive engagement.
In addition to this education I have added an Erasmus Exchange to the Design University in Denmark (Kolding) to expand my learnings in my third year.
Lastly I expanded my internship during these educations in my last year to enjoy the business learning experience to the fullest.
Awards
Sponsorship Consultancy of the year (Med - Small)
With Bright Partnerships (London) I've been part of the sponsorship programme of DHL with Formula-E which won this award for this particular partnership alignment and execution.
For this Project I have been involved in developing and designing integrated brand engagement at the global event incorporating a brand activation that is able to travel and set up across numerous location and climates.