Creativity just published their annual 'top 50' list of the people who made a mark on the cultural consciousness in the preceding year. Our man Wieden made the list again.
Here's what they say:
It's no doubt difficult to be burdened with a creative legacy stocked with the likes of "Just Do It," ESPN and the more recent revitalization of the Coca-Cola brand, but Wieden Kennedy continued to live up to its reputation with a creatively stellar 2008. Last year, the agency turned out more standout work, from the David Fincher-directed "Fate" for Nike and Coke's charming "It's mine" balloon fight, to Old Spice's "Swagger" and the voyeuristic "Somebody Else's Phone" web effort for Nokia.
The agency saw new creative management shifts with the promotion of Mark Fitzloff and Susan Hoffman to ECDs in Portland, roles previously held by Jelly Helm and Steve Luker, and with the hiring of new creative blood, like former TBWA Skittles duo Craig Allen and Eric Kallman, who were behind award winners like "Touch," "Beard" and "Pinata." The shop continued to develop its extracurricular side, launching W K Radio online and producing more musical releases out of the W K Tokyo Lab record label/workshop run by ECD John Jay. Co-founder Wieden says he also plans to expand into South America in the near future, yet no matter how big the agency grows, he has no intentions of changing its intimate and fluid creative environment. "It's a homegrown network," he says. "We hire in-country and we move folks around quite a bit from office to office, so all our fights are family fights. It really enriches our culture and creates the ability to communicate a lot easier because we're coming from the same bias."
Wieden, on his outlook for 2009: "We are full-steam ahead on digital and we're thinking of some ancillary surprises. If you can't redefine what an advertising agency is in the next couple of years, I think you've got some big problems. It's turned upside down, but for us, it's the most exciting of times."
Subscribe to
feed
I find it interesting how in spite of writing eloquently and at length about the agency you have managed to avoid the age-old nickname you have acquired. you know, the 'weekend + kennedy' one.
you're famous for working hard. you're notorious for working your employees hard. there is a reason the creative department is young.
this is not meant to cheapen you or your work. hell no, I love you. but I'd love to hear a bit more on just how wk treats employees in regards to work hours from a company policy perspective.
Posted by: chris | February 13, 2009 at 09:57 PM
Well, as chief slave-driver, I'm probably the wrong one to comment on this. It's sunday night now and I know we have / had people in this weekend working. We try to be fair on people but we do set standards high. What I can tell you is that Campaign magazine has named us 'best agency to work at' for the last two years and that we featured highly in the Sunday Times 'best companies' list.
Posted by: neil | February 15, 2009 at 09:23 PM
neil,
don't worry, I'm not saying weekends should be off-limits completely. I just wonder how the wk-workload (or work ethos) compares to the other shops. I ask this as a creative who has been at a few agencies but never wk.
Posted by: chris | February 15, 2009 at 10:23 PM
One thing is certainly true: at any other agency I've worked at there is a point where they'll say, 'This is done. It's good enough. We can go home now.' At W+K, at that point, we still tend to say, 'Let's keep going and see if we can make this better.'
Posted by: neil | February 16, 2009 at 12:35 PM