Curious Company is Rookie Agency of the Year 2024

With the ADC honorary titles, the Art Directors Club annually honors three individuals and one agency for their outstanding creative achievements. In 2025, the awards will be presented as part of the ADC Festival on May 22 at Schuppen52 in Hamburg. The 2024 honorary titles go to Kerstin and Guido Heffels, who together realized numerous projects for the HEIMAT advertising agency (ADC Lifetime Achievement), Daniel Nagel, initiator of FAQ (ADC Client of the Year), the design legend Peter Saville (ADC Honorary Member), and the agency Curious Company (ADC Rookie Agency) during the Award Show and Talent Award Show.

Link to ADC

While the ADC Festival 2025 revolves around the theme Change the World with Creativity once again, the stage at the ADC Talent Award Show and ADC Award Show in front of around 1000 spectators belongs, in addition to the winners, to four honorary title holders, determined in an anonymous vote at the Club’s annual general meeting.

The title ADC Honorary Member 2024 is awarded to the design legend Peter Saville from Manchester, known for his revolutionary album covers for Joy Division, OMD, New Order, and other Factory Records bands. His work was first celebrated in 2003 in the Peter Saville Show at the Design Museum London. That same year, his first monograph was published. He holds honorary doctorates from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of the Arts London and has been a Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2020. His works are included in the collections of MoMA, SFMOMA, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Government Art Collection (UK), and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Peter Saville lives and works in London for brands such as Burberry, Ferragamo, Lacoste, and Kvadrat. Peter Saville achieved what excellent creative communication is defined by. The covers for Joy Division and Manchester’s post-punk music scene have transcended their service function. They have entered our collective memory alongside the music. The iconic design of the DP1919 Pulsar Waves for Unknown Pleasures is one of the most cited graphics ever.

“It is a great honor to receive this award from Germany, whose culture has laid the structural foundations of graphic arts and has always significantly influenced my work,” says Peter Saville.

“Many of us ADC members were inspired not only by the music but also by the accompanying signs of the times. We were captivated by the opportunity to express ourselves graphically. The idea that Peter Saville may be responsible for some careers at ADC is not too far-fetched. He has been and remains an inspiration, a catalyst, and a role model for many of us, and that is why we should honor him,” says ADC member Heiko Schmidt at the annual general meeting regarding the nomination.

The title ADC Client of the Year 2024 goes to Daniel Nagel. Fifteen years ago, at the age of 17, he founded an initiative against AIDS. This grew into one of the largest privately initiated health organizations in the world, aiming to raise awareness around sexual health and AIDS. Communication remains at the center of this work, which has been awarded 14 times by the ADC, multiple times in gold, and has also won other important international competitions. Daniel Nagel, the driving force behind these acclaimed works, has the courage to provoke, the trust in his now ten-year-long agency partnership, and the tireless ambition to give his topic maximum attention. “Youth against AIDS” became “FAQ – the better health Group,” named after the organization’s most successful product “FAQ YOU – An Educational Platform.”

“Health is a topic that affects everyone, yet often remains in the background. With FAQ YOU, we see ourselves as a brand because we believe that brands today have the power to move people and drive social change. Our mission is to inspire young people, educate them, and give them the tools to make confident health decisions. The title ‘Client of the Year’ honors us deeply and is an award we share with everyone who accompanies us on this journey with their creativity and commitment. Together with them and many great partners, we shape the health world of the next generation,” says Daniel Nagel.

The title ADC Lifetime Achievement 2024 goes to Kerstin and Guido Heffels. As brilliant partners, they have shaped the German advertising landscape like few others, redefining the craft of advertising. As co-founder and creative director of Heimat, one of Germany’s most successful agencies, Guido Heffels radically challenged and set new creative standards. His tireless commitment to visionary yet tangible ideas earned him numerous national and international awards and the reputation of a creative pioneer. Generations of creatives admire their work.

Insight, idea, and above all incredible quality are the hallmarks of the Heffels couple. Every campaign is more than posters, social posts, and a film or asset symphony in portrait or landscape format. Standard media are complemented by a book, a tool, a pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a house, a tank, or a bathroom. The works question art, curated by system critics of the Communist Party of China. Ai Weiwei, Blixa Bargeld, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, and others collaborate with the Heffels. Their work advocates for unity among peoples and the importance of biodiversity. Sometimes Dadaist, sometimes didactic at a promotional level.

“Such a lifetime achievement award secretly wants to push you into a promise. ‘Now finally stop! That’s it!’ With all due respect, dear community, we will not do you that favor; we are still in the middle of it. The people we work for and with worldwide enrich us too much. Every day we become a little smarter, more cunning, more determined. It would be foolish to risk that,” say Kerstin and Guido Heffels.

The title ADC Rookie Agency of the Year 2024 goes to Curious Company®, a multi-award-winning digital agency for immersive brand communication with integrated production. In the ADC 2023 competition, Curious Company won 2x Silver and 1x Bronze for the project “Welcome to Everyday – The global Siemens Company Purpose – as a Game” for Siemens, as well as 2x Silver for “VOLTRON chARge – Teleport a theme park into your living room” for Europa Park, attracting much attention. The team around Henning Westerwelle, Julia Wübbe, and André Hennen combines business and brand strategy, storytelling and design, as well as technology and development. Their specialties include XR, web, apps, and spatial experiences.

“This is a huge compliment for our team! I am especially pleased that all experiences are still live and continue to evolve,” says Julia Wübbe, COO, about the award.

Henning Westerwelle, CEO, adds: “We primarily use awards as an internal quality check. Our projects are designed to achieve measurable success for clients. If they also convince professional juries, of course, we completely freak out – but in the end, the focus remains on work that brings lasting joy and impact.”

André Hennen, CCO and ADC member, is also excited: “Yes, wonderful! Everything. Even more, we are delighted when you try our work and stories yourselves! Go ahead. Do it!”