Field notes from the agency named most creative in the world in 2024, No Ads Please creates an instant sense of intimacy.
Welcome to the mind of the agency founder — a place where art, photography, film, design, music, architecture, ideas, economics, and business all collide in a glorious tangle of creative process.
Rémi Babinet founded BETC in 1994 alongside Éric Tong Cuong and Mercedes Erra. He ranks among the top 10 creative directors of all time, according to Forbes. In 2024, BETC was named most creative agency in the world by the WARC (World Advertising Research Center). With offices in Pantin, New York, São Paulo, London and Shanghai, BETC was once described by Creative Review as “also an ad agency” — in reference to its broad commitments beyond advertising. Rémi Babinet was president of the French Art Directors Club from 2003 to 2005. Since 2016, he has been president of the Grand Paris Express Cultural Fund, which aims to unite businesses around the ambitious cultural project accompanying the future Paris metro. He also heads Les Magasins Généraux, a cultural platform launched in Pantin in 2016.
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In the virtuoso blend of text and imagery this book offers, the reader is drawn into the whirlwind of transformations and accelerations that have reshaped the arts, technology, communication, business, and even social norms. From the singular vantage point of a top-tier ad agency, we explore the many faces of creativity — and the wild talents who give life to it.
Rémi Babinet, a leading figure in advertising, shares a one-of-a-kind take on creative leadership. Founder and Chairman of BETC, he juggles the pressures of business with the sensitivities of art, shaping his company as a creative project in itself — rooted in exchange, and everything that flows from it. Each page tries to sneak a bit of wisdom, depth, and mischief into the fast-spinning world of modern communication.
Rémi Babinet looks at how words and images can shape what we feel and believe, and how they travel across the world. He breaks down the usual clichés about ad agencies by turning his own into a place to learn and play with language — right when communication is shifting rapidly in every direction. This book is a gift to anyone working in the creative world: a rare blend of clarity and freedom, offered with style, wit, and a precise sense of meaning.
This book explores the power of experimentation in shaping spaces, and the dullness of things that come pre-made. Through the creation of distinctive buildings, often old and in need of restoration, the author sketches a new vision of how workspaces can support a way of life. He also highlights the vital role of the project owner in keeping creation at the heart of it. Each of his architectural ventures is closely tied to the larger story of Paris’s ongoing transformation.
From the very beginning of the agency, Rémi Babinet has been actively involved in the cultural world, creating experimental and artistic spaces like the Passage du Désir in Paris and Les Magasins Généraux in Pantin. His approach to creation spans the full spectrum — from client-driven advertising work to free-form artistic exploration in some of the most unexpected areas of contemporary art.
Rémi Babinet often says that advertising is about mastering two arts at once: conversation and reflection. That delicate balance — between long-term meaning and split-second reaction — runs through every page, illustrated by iconic campaigns for Air France, Evian, Lacoste, Canal+, Lego, and more. It’s a deep dive into the wide range of expressions, forms of rhetoric, and imagery that shape the identities of brands. Babinet also raises the broader question of communication overload in a society where everyone is expected to become a brand in order to be seen, judged, or valued.
