OUR TEAM
JAN WILLEM KLEIN WILLINK
MARKETING | BRANDS | MUSIC
Jan Willem gained broad experience in managing and leading projects, teams and processes during his corporate career with HP, Nike and Heineken and Arrow Jazz FM. Jan Willem understands what it takes to work with brands in an international environment.
MATHIJS DURINGHOF
MUSIC PRODUCER | IDENTITY | STRATEGY
Mathijs is an experienced composer and producer of applied music, and therefore understands how to juggle and build with musical elements to precisely meet the client’s needs. His broad musical knowledgde and longterm experience with writing radio jingles and audio ID’s has learned him to tell a compact, strong musical story.
THOMAS VAN ‘T GROENEWOUT
RESEARCH | CONTENT
While rounding up his master Creative Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, Thomas lends his golden pen to BLCKBRD. He is a.o. responsible for researching and writing our monthly column ‘BLCKBRD Speaks’ in Fonk Online magazine.
HOW WE GOT STARTED
BLCKBRD was conceived by Jan Willem Klein Willink and Mathijs Duringhof in 2014, while working on a soundbranding project together. Their ideas about the power of sound, and their passion for music, made a perfect match. They decided to unite their knowledge and experience to create a new and innovative soundbranding agency: BLCKBRD.
Researching the effects of soundbranding has been a key factor within our work from day 1. We call it our scientific backbone, and that’s where Berthy comes in.
BLACKBIRD SONGS
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WHY US
Jan Willem and Mathijs are two experts in their own field. Jan Willem in the field of marketing and corporate branding and Mathijs in the field of composing and producing applied music. This happens to be the perfect match.
And what’s more: they are both musicians themselves. Mathijs is a guitarist and plays keys, while Jan Willem prefers the saxophone. Their love for music is a constant factor in their lives.
WHY BLCKBRD?
Blackbirds have always been present in modern music. Think the Beatles ‘Blackbird’, or the jazz standard ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ (1926). Many more artists were inspired to write songs about the little bird with it’s distinctive voice
So a blackbird is music – but there’s more. When we hear a blackbird sing, it effects us on a subconcious level. We might feel melancholic or hopefull, thinking of our childhood or the coming of summertime. It’s song evokes emotions. And that’s the other reason we relate to that little black bird, because it is exactly what we are doing: evoke emotions through sound!
DON’T HESITATE – LET’S WORK TOGETHER

