Rodger studied at the Rietveld Academy (graphical design) and later the HKU (art direction) after which he started as assistant art director at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1990.

Worked his way up to become creative director in 2002. Over the years he worked mostly at international agencies such as McCann Erickson, Y&R, TBWA, DDB, BBDO and the smaller hot shop BSUR.

He co founded 60 layers of cake in 2005, where he is the Executive Creative Director and founding partner.
He worked on international projects in London, Brussels, New York, Sydney and Tokyo.

He strongly feels that working across cultures is truly adding to the experience.

Rodger is based in Amsterdam, but enjoys traveling to South Africa every month to work with the Cape Town team

Contact Rodger Beekman via mail on rodger@60layersofcake.com or call him on
+31 (0) 634 228 611 or at the office on +27 (0) 214 214 704.

Rodgerbeekman

 

Our CEO Ben Wren started his career in London in 1993 at Grey Direct working on the Toyota account. Over the next 9 years he worked at some of the finest ad agencies in London with career highlights at Wieden+Kennedy running the Nike business and EuroRSCG on the Microsoft and Haagen Dazs accounts.

In 2002 Ben started his own integrated agency called Aloha Advertising. Aloha was incredibly successful with a large range of clients that included: Stephen King, Fat Face, The History Channel and Cancer Research UK.

In 2007 Ben made the move to Cape Town, and after a short visit to Ogilvy where he was responsible for the Old Mutual account, became the Client Service Director at The Jupiter Drawing Room. At TJDR Ben oversaw the Account Management department and was responsible for the well being of all clients. He was also on the Management team and responsible for new business.

In 2010 Ben partnered up with the Operations Director of the Jupiter Drawing Room in Cape Town to launch 60 Layers of Cake Africa. Both Ben and Michael share the vision that ad agencies should be truly integrated and this can only be achieved by challenging existing agency business models.

Under the collaborative communication business model the new agency offers whatever it takes to start, build and maintain relationships between a brand and its consumers.

Contact Ben Wren via mail on ben@60layersofcake.co.za or call him on +27 (0) 762 440 833 or at the office on +27 (0) 214 214 704.

After completing his bachelor degree at the prestigious Graphic Lyceum of Amsterdam in 1991 Michael started his career at Dart Design which is an international leader on packaging design. In 1993 Michael joined TBWA/Campaign Company where he was responsible for the production of several Pan-European campaigns for clients like Philip Morris, Apple, Beiersdorf, AEG, Nissan and others.

Having restructured the internal workflow at the Amsterdam office of Leo Burnett in 1996, Michael went on to become the operations manager at B.S.U.R where he was responsible for the worldwide launch of Havana cigarettes. It was at B.S.U.R where Michael first started working together with Rodger Beekman. After winning several Cannes Lions for clients like Filofax it was time for Michael to start working freelance. A year sabbatical was what it needed for Michael to decide to re-located to Cape Town where he felt in love with South Africa.

After working for RMG:Connect and Joe Public, Michael was asked by Kevan Aspoas at the end of 2005 to become the Group Production Director for the Cape Town offices of  The Jupiter Drawing Room. During Michael’s 4 year at Jupiter he was responsible  for all production departments and operations which caused for him to be strongly involved with the larger clients such as Woolworths, Windhoek and Sanlam.

In 2009 Michael was promoted to Operations Director. Michael himself thinks that the start-up of the in-house repro department – which was the first repro house in Africa to become FOGRA certified – and the realization of the Golden Loerie winner of 2009 – Recycled plastic brochure for Design Indaba – were his highlights at Jupiter. He know holds the position of Chief Operating Officer for the global 60 layers of cake offices.

Contact Michael van den Heerik via mail on michael@60layersofcake.co.za or call him on +27 (0) 826 466 591 or at the office on +27 (0) 214 214 704.