STABILO's "Start Beginning" Campaign Highlights the Power of Handwriting

Mar. 20, 2025

How do you start something new? What should it be? Where do you begin? STABILO's new campaign shows that these questions are actually not that important. What matters is not how you start, but that you start. That’s why STABILO says: Start Beginning.

Keyboards, voice control, filters, AI, and other digital tools have enriched our lives. They are often used to achieve "perfection" as quickly as possible. But what do we lose when we don’t use our hands? According to recent neuroscience research, we risk losing a lot. Writing or drawing with our hands boosts brain connectivity and promotes learning – say brain researchers professor Audrey van der Meer and professor Ruud van der Weel (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), in a series of studies published in Frontiers of Psychology. 

In fact, Van der Meer also states that specific neural network connectivity doesn't just decrease but may disappear entirely when not regularly used. That’s why it is important to maintain the process of trying, failing, learning, and developing our own unique skills and style through hands-on practice. This so-called "embodied learning" isn’t just for young brains - it’s essential for all ages. 

Professor Audrey van der Meer said:

"When you use AI, you’re teaching AI. When you use pen and paper, you’re teaching your brain."

 

This insight was an important part of the inspiration for KesselsKramer to develop a new global campaign for new client STABILO, one of the world's leading manufacturers of writing instruments. It combined perfectly with the insight we probably all recognize, that there are millions of reasons not to pick up a pen or pencil and Start Beginning whatever you want to begin.

Beginning sometimes feels like the most difficult and exciting part of a process, but it is often also the most beautiful and important part. The moment where you can write or draw carelessly, try something crazy, make something ugly, while at the same time subconsciously organising your thoughts, learning what you can and cannot do and developing your own unique style. And you barely need anything for it. A simple piece of paper and a pen can be the start of a film, a book or a scientific breakthrough.

Edgar Schulten, Director Brand Communication, STABILO said:

"We often focus on the final outcome, but the true magic lies in the beginning. At STABILO, we want to inspire people to take that first step, to explore, to learn, and to embrace the journey."

 

In this campaign, STABILO inspires people to take the first step, to explore, to learn, and to embrace the journey; to Start Beginning. It shows the beauty of beginning by working with many different kinds of beginners: from an enthusiastic child to a great established artist. 

The film is made up of the individual creative expressions of artists all over the world, such as Aki and Koichi, Willem de Haan, Martcellia Luinic, Marc Bohle, Suli Breaks and even a robot. After all, even the most experienced people are, in a way, still a beginner, each day anew. In line with this idea, KesselsKramer worked together with Dutch director Suzanne Koopstra; it is her first commercial and she graduated from film school at the same time.

Maartje Slijpen, creative director at KesselsKramer said:

"No matter how professional or acclaimed you are, you are always an amateur at something.  If you don't start something new over and over again, you won't grow. That's why we believe that everyone is a beginner, or at least should bring out the beginner in themselves."

 

Beginning is also about letting go of control. Therefore, KesselsKramer asked each of these artists to create something with some words of the Start Beginning manifesto. The footage they received back was used to create the campaign. It forms the basis of a long-term, global, modular campaign with hundreds of assets; long, medium and short format video, print, OOH and more, for each country to create their own campaign to suit their local needs.