We Energise Sports, Music & Media Business

About Improovment 

Improovment has a rich history in creative industries. We have been active at the intersections of  the entertainment, music, arts, branding, marketing, broadcasting and sports business for over 15 years.  The members and partners of Improovment are and have always been true lovers of brands, design, marketing, music & sports, innovation, tech & change management with human behaviour insights as glue. 

‘Although Improovment has been dynamic over the years (from music label to content media & brand agency & investor), the group always consisted of various highly educated, full passionate creative strategists and hand-on independent creative (tech) professionals who joined in and out per project next to its vast memberInspired by hiphop, street and sports culture the talented vast core was seated by Sven Willemsen (Strategy, Brands, Music, Media), Leon Rey (Music, Tech & Design), Leon Reinders (Music & Design), Frank van ‘t Ende (Music & Tech) & Cor Giesing (Music & Education). Within the centre of Improovment Sven Willemsen has been the initiator, the driven force and catalyst behind the the 360° management of (creative) projects, initiatives & business up until this day. 

Naturally Sven Willemsen & co continued with the winning formula to operate with multiple project teams simultaneously on various marketing, brands, design, (media-)tech, music, sports, innovation and change cases. New teams formed over the years carried by labels such as Wearereasonable people™, Wetriggerpeople™, Sportaneous®, Crackanutt™, Brand Love Intelligence™ (AI), Relevense™ (AI) and such. Some labels grew out to become complete companies active up until today, others had a restricted time period of impact. 

Improovment spirit is still going strong as an active ‘mother brand’ with initiatives concentrated under a few labels and a variety of skilled people. Some of the talented Improovment core members from day 1 are still here in the game. Breathing together. Others have flown out discovering grounds on their own. All good. We’ll resonate one way or another. Often one call away. Fact is, all Improovment (previous) members and partners make beautiful creative and innovative things & careers! We have been and still are the standard. Let’s rock!  Improovment is on your side! 

The Improovment™ affiliate label is:  Evytal®   | Evytal Sports Management. 

Today Improovment director Sven Willemsen is active as founder of Evytal®, the international Sports Management Agency for football business & sports marketing (marketing strategy, tactics, influencers, blockchain, NFT’s) focused on Brazil & Europe, next to Improovment, creative (tech) business, brand strategy & brand & marketing management. I am currently active for brands such as MPeople® (brand strategy, brand development & brand & marketing management, innovation), Suigeneris® (brand strategy, brand development & management), Likeur & Jeneverfabriek Amsterdam™ (Brand consult & management), ‘t Zorg Gilde (Brand consult & management). 

Some recent brand work ©2022.   

theHistory (a).

Improovment Records. We’ve got a story to tell. 

We have been around as a music, media & management company since 2001. That’s the year we plugged in as Improovment Records, the record company from Dutch HipHop Jazz band The Proov including their innovative side projects: Duke & Gonzo, CeeMajor, Gumshoe and L.geronimo. The records (vinyl & CD) from Improovment were internationally distributed  by Rushhour Amsterdam and Improovment collaborated with various music players online (MP3) . The Proov toured  around in Europe at places such as Roxy’s Praha, Adagio Berlin, North Sea Jazz, Lowlands, Noorderslag, Paradiso, Melkweg, Effenaar and did mini tours like the one in New York with regional MC Inksalonius.  The were the openings act for a dozen of well-respected USA hiphop artists like Organized Konfusion, Mos Def & Talib Kwili & The Alkaholiks. The Proov had sponsorship agreements with brands such as Nike, NikeSB, Carhartt, Sole Technology, Reef, Maffia and  Mesmo Clothing (art). Their videos were shown on MTV, TMF, The Box and RTL. In that time TV was a must for significant exposure. Their songs and interviews aired on the programmes Dutch Masters from Villa65 (VPRO), 3voor12XL (VPRO), Clublek (VPRO) Funx and a lot of underground hiphop radio channels across the world. Furthermore they were featured in national (music) magazines, known papers and online channels with interviews, tunes and much more. Check The Proov live at pop temple Paradiso Amsterdam (NL).

theHistory (b).

The Proov Music. Music for the people

The Proov did collabos and music projects with jazzy cats such as Eric Vloeimans, New Cool Collective, Jule Deelder, Perquisite, Pete Philly, Mr. Probz, MOD, Zuco 103, Kid Sublime, C-Mon & Kypski, Spearhead, RollaRocka (Postmen), et cetera. They were featured on albums of 3voor12 (VPRO); Homegrown (TopNotch / Universal); The Beat Doctor; Pete Philly & Perquisite; C-Mon & Kypski; Inksalonius among others. The members of the Proov over the years were:  Cor Giesing (Ceemajor), Leon Rey (L. Geronomo), Omar Rey, Leroy Rey (Wicked Jazz), Sven Willemsen (Gumshoe) and the DJ’s: Uncas Huges (DJ TLM known from Brainpower), Sander Schalk (DJ S-Dub), Jasper Lieuwma (DJ Friss known from Kraantje Pappie),  Neels Smeekens (DJ Optimus).  The Proov was (like The Postmen) signed at CMC records till 2000. Anecdote: in the pre-production time of their forthcoming album Battle Mode (Improovment Records), they spoke with head of A&R in the HQ office Europe from major label Warner Music that fully recognised their talent. However, The Proov hadn’t planned a hit formula, one of the criteria for joining. So The Proov took their gear and continued independently. In 2002 they got nominated for the Heineken Crossover Award regarding their special blend of hiphop & Jazz. Sequentially, they started experimenting with new hiphop music arts. They’ve been the first NL hiphop band to create experimental hiphop with explicit electronic layers. Back then hard to explain to some of their hard core audiences. Today, it’s a vivid trend.

[Full length albums The Proov. Listen to: Traditions; Battle Mode; Art; Off the Cuff. Music videos below under theMedia. Projects The Proov. Listen to: Dope Traffic – De HOP 1 (Heineken) produced by J.Rawls (known from Masta Ace, Mos Def, Talib Kweli productions). Listen to:  North West Metropolis – Inside Out ft. CeeMajor (The Proov) & Pete Philly].

theHistory (c).

Improovment Media. Creativity leaks. 

Improovment went with creative developments parallel to the label with cross media, tech and online marketing. It was absolutely a must to anticipate on the dynamic innovative rapidly changing music industry. From Tapes, DAT, Vinyl to CD’s, MP3’s and Streaming technology such as Spotify.  Under this label Sven Willemsen created a cross media concept for Dutch NPO broadcaster BNN named 12inches (2006/2007). It integrated an online platform, Vinyl, digiTV 101, videos and TV all together and featured Dutch arrived artists who had to create a track in 1 day. After that Sven Willemsen worked under Viktor Terpstra at Radio BNN as sidekick and editor (copywriter) for radio and TV personalities Sophie Hilbrand & Willemijn Veenhoven and tested upcoming talents like Nicolette Kluijver.  Later Sven Willemsen was independently active as  cross creative conceptor at BNN, chief editor & director for the Dutch Urban Awards & State Awards. Improovment furthermore developed radio tunes, documentaries and managed creative sessions at BNN. The Improovment team directed, created and/or managed various music videos. One of the videos, Feel The Heat, was sponsored by Nike and directed by Nick Gordon (Supergrass, Roni Size). It’s a 2D video, unique for that time era. It features famous football players (a.o. Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, brothers De Boer). This Nike campaign was further exposed on posters, banners and fully stickered trams and busses throughout the metropol Amsterdam (see further below)

Improovment Marketing. Accountably roaming. 

After and next to the music Improovment wanted to keep going, creating that nice stuff by designing value. So to convert all the experiences and knowledge gained over the years, we started helping other artists and companies from related and non-related industries with their brand, communication and sales marketing plans and execution. Founder and owner Sven Willemsen activated a few labels over the years to custom the concepts &  ideas in suitable propositions. Today he’s still active under the label Improovment and the labels  Evytal® Sports Management & Brand Love intelligence™ . He’s involved in various (inter)national side projects within the sports & media (brand & marketing management). He used to be associate and employee at the leading brand communication firm Total Design® (TD). Today active as strategy consultant partner for international digital tech company Novicell®.  Sven Willemsen has inspired young professionals at various (inter)national public and private Universities of Applied Sciences (respectively HU University of Applied Sciences and Wittenborg University) in digital marketing and helps various companies with their (online) marketing, communication & business innovation. 

theApproach.

Clear methods win worlds

Improovment Company 

If you feel inspired to get in contact, please do so.  The company functions as a (brand) bridge between various creative & technological spin offs. We will most certainly take care of your request (creative challenge) by a centralised approach. You shall be appointed to a single highly educated and experienced Improovment key project leader (languages: NL/ ENG / D / BR / ES). The key project manager will be your contact throughout the whole project in the mids of our sublabels. In that way we guarantee a personal hassle-free full service effective and efficient approach without loosing specialists’ quality. We’ll be more than pleased to hear from you.

Contact.

If you feel like you should  get in contact with Improovment, please do so.  We’ll be more than pleased to hear from you.  Send us an e-mail or simply call us. We speak multiple languages.