hi, we are The Young.
Agency for creative
brand development.

Why The Young? ‘Young’ is not an age. Neither a generation. It’s not hip, hype or happening. It is a way of looking – a perspective on growth, driven by curiosity and a desire for development. Young means to us: What if? It’s about wonder, and the willingness to experiment. The power of imagination.

contact

info@theyoung.agency

The Rotterdam studio:
Baan 74, 3e etage
3011 CD Rotterdam
I like it, what is it?

work with us

We are always excited for creative and curious minds to join us at The Young. andre@theyoung.agency

We develop Brand Concept Cars

As the name implies, a concept car is an inspiring combination of idea and reality, simultaneously demonstrating both an organization’s unique strategic intent and practical capabilities.

More than a simple prototype, it brings to life the priorities, values and vision that will guide the organization forward in the immediate future, and serves as a tangible brand statement that says, ‘This is where we intend to go now.’

While automotive brands generally use concept cars to communicate externally to the press, a brand ‘concept car’ is also a powerful tool for the strategic orientation of internal audiences. In the process of organizational change, one relevant, concrete example can be worth more than a thousand PowerPoint decks!

Of course, a brand ‘concept car’ doesn’t have to be a physical product designed for sale. It could be anything: a new service offering or internal system, a refreshed brand design language or communications idea.

No matter what form it takes, in order to succeed in moving organizations forward, a powerful brand concept car needs three key characteristics:

1. Inspirational

It is inspirational but achievable in the near future. It requires change and may even surprise some people, but it is not a BHAG. It is grounded in realistic expectations of near-term circumstances and available resources

2. Brand Relevant

It is brand-relevant. It is not simply a general view of the future. It demonstrates a distinctive brand perspective on that future and how this particular organization will use its strengths to take advantage of those circumstances.

3. Collaborative

It connects the efforts and input of multiple stakeholders. From a practical perspective, it must have widespread support. It cannot be seen as only one group’s project. And from a symbolic perspective, a brand statement should show how the organization’s functions work together, as one brand.

And in order to produce a successful brand concept car, you need to combine three key areas of expertise:

1. Research

Concepting is always grounded in a deep understanding of the relevant technologies (What is possible?), social environment (How will it be used and by whom?) and intent (What effect does the organization want to create among current audiences?)

2. Strategy

Translating today’s intent into tomorrow’s product or service requires the ability to think strategically; to identify and amplify the often subtle connections between what you want to say and what audiences need to hear.

3. Design

Design expertise is what turns a well researched, strategically sound idea into something that people can actually visualize, appreciate and desire. Whether the ‘concept car’ itself is a new thing, a new way of doing things or a new way of communicating them, design makes the final difference.

The Young Questions Death

Death. Even the word can empty a room. Why don’t we talk about it? Why do we reach for softer phrases like “passed away” or “moved on”? 

  • New Language
  • Spiritual
  • Generational
  • Collective
  • Transformation
  • Dialogue
  • New Language
  • Spiritual
  • Generational
  • Collective
  • Transformation
  • Dialogue
  • New Language
  • Spiritual
  • Generational
  • Collective
  • Transformation
  • Dialogue
  • New Language
  • Spiritual
  • Generational
  • Collective
  • Transformation
  • Dialogue
Is it alright for adults to lie about death to children?

This fourth publication began with curiosity about the one thing that touches everyone. Not to solve death or explain it away, but to sit with it. Death is the uninvited guest at every table. We built entire industries around avoiding it, crafted language to blur it, developed complicated rituals to contain it. And it remains, patient and certain, shaping how we love, create, and connect. So, why not go for a walk with our guest?

In our research, we discovered death isn’t singular. It’s biological, spiritual, cultural, personal, and collective all at once. It lives in hospital rooms and living rooms, in memes and monuments.

Why do artists love skulls?

We met Lonneke and Bob Hendrikx, who grow mushroom coffins to return bodies to the soil as nutrients, not waste. We sat with Guillaume Dardenne, a grief tender who helps people “put more life in their days, not more days in their life.” We traced how different languages shape how we relate to endings, from Russian’s blunt он умер to Japanese’s poetic 物の哀れ = mono no aware.

How many autopsies does a coroner do a year?

We looked at how pop culture both trivializes and sanctifies death: turning grief into content and memorial into merchandise. We touched on Buddhist impermanence, digital afterlives, and the strange beauty of decomposition. How absence becomes presence, how memory becomes object.

You’ll find stories here about:
→ The cadaver dogs who read death’s chemical signatures
→ The biology of dying and what happens at the end
→ Children’s questions and elders’ responses
→ Cultural rituals and untranslatable words
→ The paradox of digital immortality
→ Artists who collaborate with absence

This isn’t about making death comfortable. Some chapters stay heavy. From the chemical poetry of decay to the weight of collective grief, we found that death isn’t a punctuation mark but a continuous presence. It shapes us even when we pretend it doesn’t.

 

For wherever you meet death: in memory, in work, in fear, in wonder. May you find here what you need. A question, a story, a moment of recognition.

Let’s begin.

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