“I used to lie when people asked me what I did,” he says. “I told them I just worked in graphic design.”

But in this period not long after the golden age of advertising, Kennedy came to believe that the difference between art and advertising, fine and commercial art, high and low culture, was perception. Because everything was about selling something. “When you enter a profession and don’t buy into it, you can do something really interesting,” Wieden says. “So, this agency was founded on a gentle disrespect for the industry. We say we hate advertising, but we do it very well.”

david kennedy and dan wieden

Wieden and Kennedy

W + K

I started off researching Wieden and Kennedy with a little bit of knowledge of them in my mind already. Nothing too major, just standard pop culture info, like the fact that they came up with Nike’s famous tag line, “Just do it,” and that their Portland office apparently had a giant bird’s nest for people to chill in.

I figured, for this assignment, I would do the basic google searching, the wikipedia run down and all…but early on, I realized that plan wasn’t going to work. Why? Well, Wieden and Kennedy are unlike other agencies of their caliber, and thus listing facts isn’t enough. For someone to understand why Wieden and Kennedy is so great, they need to understand the people behind it…from the incredible characters Dan Wieden and David Kennedy who built it up from the ground, to the crazy bunch that help keep it fresh.

I hope you enjoy what I have posted and will take a moment to get to know W+K…they really are fun and inspiring

http://www.wk.com/

Oh, and the bird’s nest thing? Totally true. It’s sick, you have to check it out.

bird’s nest

Introducing Dan and Dave:

David Kennedy: from the words of Wieden

“He must’ve wanted the hell out of Chicago is all I can figure. Because he was standing there in my office doorway wearing a three-piece pin-striped suit. It was the was the first time I ever laid eyes on David Kennedy and the last time I ever saw him in that suit. After he got the job, he must’ve burned the suit or given it to Goodwill, because for the rest of his working life, with only two or three minor exceptions, this man wore blue jeans and a blue work shirt. Period. “It simplifies things,” he said.”

“Simplifying the man is a bit more difficult. It would be easier to organize that rat’s nest of papers, photos, flags, buffalo skulls, woodblock letters and other artifacts he calls an office. But there are so many facets to Kennedy, arranged in no particular order, that you cannot get a complete picture of him even after 25 years’ exposure. He is completely centered, yet a mass of contradictions. For instance, he and I will be walking back from lunch trying desperately to find a way out of a particular business crisis, and I will be doing my damnedest to articulate the issue, break it down before it broke us down. He listens, challenges, takes another line of attack and then abruptly yells, “Jesus, Wieden, look!”

“There, under a tree growing out of the sidewalk is a scrap of paper with an image I can’t quite make out. He bends, picks it up, brushes off the grime, flattens it out. “Isn’t that beautiful?” He gives his classic half-laugh, looks at me with a raised eyebrow. David Kennedy is addicted to beauty. It is this obsession with craftsmanship—coupled with his startling conceptual talent—that has guided Wieden + Kennedy from the backwoods of Oregon out onto the international stage.”

“He has contributed so much to this industry, so much to our agency. But of all the things he has given me, and they are many, the most enduring are those three simple words: “Jesus, Wieden, look.”

Dan Wieden on David Kennedy’s induction into the Art Director’s Hall of Fame

Cited from: http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2003/?id=199

Dan Wieden

What makes W+K different

"These are the rules at Wieden + Kennedy. Famously found in a desk drawer by David Kennedy when clearing out his stuff to leave his old job and start the new agency. He and Dan Wieden said, ‘These will do as the rules for the new place.’ And it has been so ever since."

Courtesy: W+K London Blog

7 Reasons Why W+K is Different From Other Places

I stole these 7 bullet points from Russell Davies blog about the 7 things he’s learned from working at Wieden and Kennedy. This is my take on them and how they can apply to W+K’s uniqueness.

Below the list are quotes from his own personal experience, as well as a link to his blog in case you are interested.

1. Hire advertising people, you get advertising

W+K is more than just advertising people, they push their work further so it is not just advertising

2. The key to creative genius; work harder

The people of W+K understand how to make great work…and thus, they work their asses off

3. You can’t divorce the medium from the message

W+K believes it’s not only important what you say and how you say it, but where you say it. They value their media people and think of them as some of the smartest people in their industry.

4. Do good work, the money will follow

W+K knows how to prioritize and knows how to make work valuable. Good work comes first, and when it does, so does the success

5. Hold everyone to the same standard

Everyone is expected to do amazing work, no matter how big or small the job is

6. You can tell from the work if people enjoyed making it

W+K is full of energy and excitement, it’s a great atmosphere and thus great work can thrive and be created

7. Brands that influence culture sell more

W+K influences culture through brands, plain and simple

From the Blog of  Russell Davies:

“You’re only good to me after you’ve made three tremendous mistakes.”

Dan Wieden

Wiedenism:

“Fail Harder”

fail harder - click to watch video on this push pin mural

“I think we’re pretty comfortable with admitting that we’re not perfect. We make mistakes. We lose pitches. We make bad decisions.We have the words ‘embrace failure‘ written on a big illuminated sign in one of our meeting rooms. (Aptly, the illumination doesn’t work.) We recognise that if you’re going to test the boundaries then sometimes you’ll fail. But that’s OK. It’s not trying that’s not OK. You don’t achieve extraordinary results through ordinary efforts.”

cited from W+K – London Blog

History:

Wiedenism:

“Patience and progress are fucking hard”

Dan Wieden graduated from the Unversity of Oregon  in 1967 with a degree in journalism. His father, F.D. “Dukes” Wieden was the chairman of the Gerber agency in Portland, Oregon and was a very respected ad man. Initially, Dan had decided to go the Bohehiem route, and pursue a career in writing, one that did not fall into the world of advertising. He experimented with short stories and screen plays for a bit, but soon after, he accepted a job offer at the Portland based advertising firm, McCann-Erikson.

It’s a good thing Wieden decided to sell out…or well, put advertising over  his own artistary for the time being, because it was at McCann-Erikson that great history would soon be born. In 1980, Wieden met his future business partner, David Kennedy, who graduated from our very own alma matar, the University of Colorado, with a degree in art. Although Kennedy’s advertising career was more sophisticated and developed then Weiden’s at the time (having worked for Leo Burnett and Rubicam in Chicago), the two worked well together and both shared a strong dislike “status quo advertising.”  So, two years after meeting, they took a risk and their only client at McCann, Portland based Nike, and left to start their own agency, in the basement of a labor union hall.

Just Do it

Wieden and Kennedy did not design NIKE’s trademark “swoosh”; however, they revolutionized their advertising throughout the 1980s, with their  “irreverent humor, sophisticated film techniques, and hip cultural references into their ads for the shoe manufacturer.”

1983: NIKE moves most of its account to California-based Chiat/Day in anticipation of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles

1985, Nike returns to WK

1988, Wieden coines the phrase, “Just Do It,” winning fame for both NIKE and W K.

The firm put Lou Reed in a Honda commercial, used the Beatles’ “Revolution” as an insurrectionist version of a jingle for NIKE in 1987, and introduced a cinematic, storytelling approach to print and television ads.

1988: As the agency grew, Wieden and Kennedy spend less time on the creative aspects of their business; instead of producing ads themselves, they overlooked the work of their employees.

For Wieden, the shift was awesome.” I get very excited about other people’s work. I don’t have a huge need to do hands-on work,” he said in 1990. Kennedy, on the other hand, did not take so kindly to the change. “It’s been extremely frustrating for me. I’m basically a creative type, but I found myself sitting in more meetings than doing ads,” he said in 1993.

W K continued to grow throughout the early 1990s, but their growth included ups and downs, and most importantly failures.

In 1991, the same year Advertising Age chose W K as its Agency of the Year, W K won the Subaru of America account and watched their billings rise 65 percent to $165 million. In order to serve their new client, WK opened a new office in Philadelphia. However, the Phili branch wasn’t doing too hot, as the office and work was much more dull than that of Portland. The office was closed after Subaru fired the agency in 1993.

In the same year, WK also imposed “austerirty measure on upper manadegment and instituted layoffs,” for the first time in its entire 11 year history, due to the losses of about $11 million in billings over a six-month period. In response to this, WK cut its staff by about 15 people and reduced Portland’s staff by 10 percent.

“1995–2000: A Period of Tremendous Change”

1995: David Kennedy retires

Prior to 1992, fewer than a dozen people had left Wieden Kennedy, but in the later half of the 1990s,  especially after Kennedy’s deapature, the agency had a turnover similar to that of other advertising agencies, something very unusual for the “cohesive, family-like culture” of WK.

“It’s pretty well known when you talk to headhunters that we don’t pay very well and we border on being a sweatshop.” The company, thus held on tightly to its workers who stated true and put at WK and “communicated a sense of betrayal regarding those who left.”

1996: the agency adds more additional Microsoft products and Miller Genuine Draft to its roster, billings rise to $624 million.

1997: NIKE takes on more of its business to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, however, billings rise again to $877 million in the same year

1998, Miller leaves the agency

1999: NIKE returns to WK again.

(The events of Miller’s depature and Nike’s return lead to more layoffs, internal restructuring, and a focus on recruiting new business.)

In 1998, W K opened a London office (partly to win NIKE’s global business).  In addition to NIKE’s U.K. work, the London office took on local projects for Diet Coke, Virgin Interactive, and Flextech cable network, however, this was not until later on. For the first six months of its existence,  the London office was bound to an agreement with NIKE that they would not take on any other accounts. As a result, W K receieved a reputation for being standoffish in the London advertising community, and the office struggled with “high turnover,” having gone through three managing directors and four creative directors during its first two and a half years.

2000: With close to $780 million in billings, W K moves its  WK world wide headquarters to a new space in Portland’s trendy Pearl District, home a busteling metrapolotan city atmosphere. Wieden purchases a 22,000-square-foot cold-storage space and begins the building process of his goal “a creative institution, a synergistic hub where business, art, and community [would thrive],” as he explained in a press release in 2001.

In addition to offices in London and Portland, WK has family in Amsterdam, Tokyo, New York, Delhi and Shanghai.

Citations are from:
International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 75 (2004) by Carrie Rothburd
,

Clients

Portland

American Indian College Fund, Coca-Cola,  Converse, Diet Coke, Dodge, Electronic Arts, LAIKA Studios, Levi’s, Nike, Nike Golf, Old Spice, Target, Travel Oregon

New York

ABC Television, Alberto Culver, Benihana, Delta Air Lines, Diageo, Disney Pixar, ESPN, Jordan Brand, Nike

Amsterdam

BASF, bwin, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Delta Air Lines, Diageo, Electronic Arts, ESPN, Heineken, Honda, Nike, Noki, Turkcell,Women Win

London

COI Communications, Emeco, Fairtrade, Guardian Newspapers, Honda, Nestea, Nike, Nokia, Selfridges,Space NK, Visit Wales

Shanhai

BASF, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Converse, Heineken, iShares, Nike

Tokyo

Adlens, Delta Air Lines, Eli Lilly, Google

GYRE, Mori Development, Nike, Nike Golf, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Sony PlayStation, Tokyo Lab

Delhi

Budweiser, Chevrolet, eBay India, India Tourism, IndiGo Air, Nokia, Royal Enfield Motorcycles, The Park Hotels

Work

Wiedenism: ”The work comes first”

interactive store front for movie, Coraline

box sets made in wieden + k studio, mailed home to bloggers and other influencers of the movie, Coraline

limited edition Coraline Nike Dunks

Wiedenism:

“Dont Just Say It, Be It”  Fail Harder

Go Forth : Named one of W+K’s and 2009′s worst ads

Key People

Dan Wieden – CEO and Partner

Claudia Valderrama – CFO and Partner

Dave Luhr – COO and Partner

Bill Davenport

Susan Hoffman

John Jay

And the two newest additions in 13 years ( and the first partners from an office outside the US): Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth,

More People: Wiedenism: ”Find people who make you better”

W+K is about family; each person contributes to making the agency great. Click the film strip to see more people.