The bet was: could Paul Colman eat a four finger Kit-Kat in its entirety in 30 seconds or less?
The result: not even close. More like 60 seconds. But, who knows, there could be a campaign in this for Kit-Kat: so full of goodness and nourishment that it'll probably take you at least a minute to cram one down your gullet.
The move into the new space all happens over the weekend.
With so many cycling fans at the agency, today’s a great day for team Nike with the launch of our new Mark Cavendish campaign, ahead of the Tour de France starting tomorrow.
Across the continent Mark is a household name – the fastest road cyclist in the world. He took four stages in the Tour de France last year, four in the Giro this year, two in the recent Tour of Switzerland and he won the Milan – San Remo classic. Dave Brailsford (the brains behind Team GB’s cycling success in Beijing) has described Cav as “the new Wayne Rooney”, his team owner says “forget Armstrong, Cavendish is the big story this year”. Despite being our best British cycling hope in years, here in the UK he remains virtually unheard of – and where he is known he has a reputation for his emotional post-race outbursts, his ability to say the wrong thing and what a lot of people claim is ‘arrogance’ about his own abilities.
But the one thing that no one can argue about is his speed on the road.
This execution puts the debate and the arguments to one side and lets his speed do the talking. As well as the image which appeared full page in Sport magazine editorial today alongside numerous cycling blogs, we’ll be releasing a series of filmed interviews throughout the three weeks of the tour each giving a different perspective on Cav’s approach to the race. The first sets up his ambitions for this year:
(http://www.youtube.com/user/NikeAdvertising#play/all/uploads-all/0/sE8zhUYMHA4).
We can’t wait to see what he’s capable of doing over the next three weeks. And to see if he can really bring that green jersey back to the UK…
A lion, recently.
According to a thing on Brand Republic, "The Big Won, in association with creative recruitment agency,
The Garden Partnership, has analysed the entire Cannes 2009 Lions
shortlists and winners."
There's no further explanation of these tables, but our folks seem to have done OK. Seems a bit odd that AKQA got a Grand Prix but don't feature but this is what the survey says. We all love rankings tables, so here they are.
UK top creative directors:
| 1. Jeremy Craigen | DDB London | 84 | |
| 2= Paul Silburn | Saatchi & Saatchi | 66 | |
| 2= Kate Stanners | Saatchi & Saatchi | 66 | |
| 3=Robert Saville | Mother | 42 | |
| 3=Mark Waites | Mother | 42 | |
| 4= Tony Davidson | Wieden + Kennedy | 40 | |
| 4= Kim Papworth | Wieden + Kennedy | 40 | |
| 1. Stephen Howell | Saatchi & Saatchi London | 62 | |
| 2= Stuart Harkness | Wieden + Kennedy London | 40 | |
| 1. Rick Dodds | Saatchi & Saatchi London | 62 |
| 2. Graeme Hall | DDB London | 44 |
| 3= Hunter Somerville | DDB London | 40 |
| 3= Chris Groom | Wieden + Kennedy London | 40 |
| 1. Sarah Galea | Saatchi & Saatchi | 52 |
| 2= Philip Heimann | DDB London | 44 |
| 2= Briony Small | DDB London | 44 |
| 4= Ryan Fisher | Wieden + Kennedy | 40 |
Way to go, Ryan!
In February Wieden + Kennedy London pitched and won a project to design the Concept Store windows for Selfridges’ 100th anniversary. The brief was “What will Selfridges be selling in 2109?” It was a great chance to do some non-traditional creative work and satisfying to know that we beat some top designers and artists to win the project.
The outcome was the ‘Future A-Z 2109’, which officially launches on July 3rd. We wanted to come up with something that reflected Selfridges, the ultimate pleasure palace, in the future. The idea allowed us to show a collective view of the future with a series of 26 ‘crazy sensible’ future products, created by W+K. Thoughts range from the stupidly clever Airbag Cycle Helmets through to the darker dimension of Designer Organs. (This concept was endorsed by Vivienne Westwood.) Here are some shots of the installation.
The A-Z along Orchard Street.
A is for Airbag Helmet. Instantly inflates on impact providing 360 degree protection for any cyclist. Do not wear in bed.
A passer-by admiring the window.
As of all this wasn't enough, we have come up with a competition where we are asking you, the blog-reading public to complete our A-Z, since the letter X is missing. Can you think of what product the letter X could represent in 2019? Download the template from the Selfridges website and take a look at the teaser film.
The winning IDEA X will be made and exhibited in the window, along with the other 25 letters, from Saturday 8 August until the end of the month. The winner will also receive a £500 Selfridges gift card. Judges include Dr Frances Corner – Professor of Art and Design Education at the London College of Fashion, Patrick Burgoyne – Editor of Creative Review and Linda Hewson – Selfridges head of creative.
A special thanks to the team at ATOM for all their support and exceptional model-making.
Work nears completion on our additional space just across the road. We're due to move people around this weekend, so these really are the finishing touches. (Fingers crossed.)
Alex in the kitchen.
Big screen for big presentations, which is accompanied by some proper AV kit.
Ooo - design feature!
General work area: lots of desks to go in here very soon.
Looks like it's just been abandoned rather than about to be finished, but this will be a meeting room.
A yellow door.
A small room with some dodgy carpeting. This will be an edit suite.
Stairway to nowhere.
Looking down on the open area from the gallery. Minstrels not yet in residence.
Up on the roof.
View from the roof terrace: our current space on 16 Hanbury Street.
Huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.
Nat welcomes Dan and Ray, who have finally agreed to join us full time. Like all new joiners they were asked to tell everyone a secret about themselves. Dan's secret involved atomic bombs. Ray's related to vomiting orange juice down her nose in a cheese shop.
Tom and Katherine explained what's happening with our fabulous Selfridges window installation.
And Feh shared his views on the highlights of the work from last week's Cannes festival.
And someone called Clarence Bass posted the comment below.
Clarence Bass - 01 July 2009
Is it just me, or does
Weiden's reception look exactly like the 'gonk room' owned by that
scary old blind recluse in Psychoville?
I don't know what he's talking about. How could anyone confuse the two?
Wieden + Kennedy reception
Scary psycho gonk room.
Windsor: Smell my laptop.
Dannii: What?
Windsor: Go on, smell my laptop.
Dannii: Smell it? Why?
Windsor: It smells really bad. I fucked it at the weekend.
Dannii (recoiling from laptop): You what?!
Windsor: No, not in an American Pie way. I spilt wine in it.
Later, Windsor initiated the troubleshooting process with I.T. Tom. Note the sophisticated technical analysis of the reduced performance status of the multimedia hardware solution.
So, we’re into our fourth week since the briefs for PLATFORM went live and we’re starting to receive submissions.
We’ve been sent lots of questions from around the world – which hopefully we’ve answered fully for you.
We’ve also had some feedback from a few people saying that the briefs are pretty tough and that they are a little scared to enter as they don’t think they’ll be good enough to get in!
Well please scrap that notion from your minds, this opportunity is open to everyone.
The whole concept of PLATFORM is about embracing diversity, seeking out that hybrid talent who have curious, challenging minds.
People who don’t necessarily fit neatly into any one box.
The ones who’ve not decided what they want to be and are up for the challenge of working this out with other like-minded strangers.
You DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ADVERTISING or have had any previous experience in it.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME AT PLATFORM so send us your submission now – you have two weeks left to prove you’ve got what it takes.
Have a go, you have nothing to lose.
The Platform team.
x
I just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you for helping to accommodate young Joseph Kester last week on his work experience. I know its difficult having someone shadow you but it means a lot to the students that come in.
Joe had a great time and was very grateful to everyone who answered all his questions and for making him feel so welcome. He is very jealous that we all get to work somewhere that’s so much fun whilst he has to go to school … Bless him
Joe has sent a lovely card and some sweets. Please could everyone who took Joe under their wing pat some point last week please come and see me for your treat.
Dx
Carlo Brandelli, former creative director of Kilgour, came into the agency today to give one of our occasional talks from interesting and inspiring figures from the broader world of creativity.
Carlo didn't go to fashion college, but learnt from the artisans and craftsmen who surrounded him as he was growing up in Italy. He founded his own successful label Squire, bringing together the worlds of art and fashion, at the age of 24.
Kilgour, the famous Savile Row tailor responsible for dressing some of the most elegant men in the world (Cary Grant and Fred Astaire among them) approached Carlo in 1998 to design their first ready to wear collections. In October 2003 Carlo joined Kilgour full time as Creative and Design Director, with the brief ‘to create a new kind of menswear brand,blending menswear skill and heritage with modern design‘. He brought the company into the new millennium with a sleek new store, and a pared-down collection that adhered to his own strict aesthetic.
In 2005 he won the Menswear Designer Of The Year award, presented by the British Fashion Council, the highest award of its kind in the country, and was voted GQ Magazine's most stylish man. A menswear design award from Arena magazine also followed and an award from British Esquire in 2007 for best menswear fashion brand. A debut Fashion Menswear Show in Paris June 2008 was received with critical acclaim. He has a raft of nominations from GQ magazine for Menswear Designer of the Year and is a fixture in their 'top 50 best dressed men' list.
So he's just the sort of guy to debate the finer points of sartorial elegance with W+K style gurus like Gav, Dazzer and Danny Wallace: men for whom socks with sandals qualifies as 'a look'.
It was a fascinating talk and really interesting to hear of the similarities and differences between the worlds of fashion and advertising.
Similar: a lot of the creative work only gets produced in the pressured environment of the impending deadline; the creative process never seems to be easy; customers can be difficult and demanding; there are all sorts of category rules there to be broken; you get to see your clients with no clothes on. (I'm thinking here, in our case, of saunas with Nokia rather than fitting sessions with Tony Blair or Bryan Ferry.)
Different: there is no 'brief' in the world of fashion (though there can be some strict design parameters); budgets are much smaller; dressing as a banana probably not OK when meeting with Jude Law to discuss his suiting requirements.
W+K's style icon Noe pays close attention to Carlo's presentation.
This morning, we were swapping stories here about bad reactions from clients to presentations. Thought I'd share one or two of the stories.
Here's one that happened a little while ago.
Client: "You're making me nervous with these ideas."
Creative Director: "Well, nervous can be a good thing."
Client: "Yes, but this is the bad kind of nervous."
If I get time, later, I'll recount the story of the marketing director who physically attacked me to try to stop me from singing him our ideas for some radio ads. Oh, how we laughed about that one.
Interesting to see how the local press in Swindon has covered W+K's campaign to announce the reopening of Honda's UK factory, which is located in the area. The coverage suggests that it's a controversial move locally to spend money on an advertising campaign when workers have accepted pay cuts, but reports that Honda workers have backed the campaign. Most of those interviewed seem to have seen the campaign as a positive step, likely to encourage the business to get moving. A Swindon-based marketing expert is quoted as saying he thinks the campaign is 'a wise move'. And the article talks of Honda's 'impressive track record when it comes to advertising.'
A follow-up piece said 'readers giving their backing to Honda's ad campaign'.
An online poll conducted by the paper revealed 57 per cent of readers supported the campaign.
Pat, on a conference call, under the watchful eye of Wieden.
Blue sky thinking in the 'fishbowl' meeting room?
The adverts that your company has produced for Honda to celebrate the
re-opening of the Swindon factory are superb.
I have been listening to
them on Classic FM each morning as I travel to work.
As a teacher of
Geography my interest lies in their use as learning and teaching aids for
pupils. These short to the point adverts get across the principle of the
"knock-on" or "domino" effect that is part of the course work in industrial
Geography.
Is it possible to get a copy of the whole set of adverts to
use for education purposes?
I would love to incorporate the adverts
into our teaching presentations to engage pupils in thinking about the impact of
industrial change.
Nice to get some feedback that shows people are engaged.
First up: the awesome White Denim, who rocked. Totally. Wah-wah, baby, wah-wah!
Strangely, their bassist looked like a 14 year old swot. He sang backing vocals at one point and I swear the kid's voice hasn't even broken yet. But he was STILL awesome.
Next up, in just a minute now:
Nice one.
From the Independent's Monday media section (link):
Best in Show: Honda (Wieden & Kennedy)
At the beginning of the year Honda
closed its Swindon factory. It didn’t want to make redundancies,
despite the collapse of the car market, so it shut up shop for a few
months.
The decision was clear evidence of a brand that, when the crunch came, remained true to the values encapsulated in its marketing.
Now Swindon has reopened and Honda has launched a marketing campaign through Wieden & Kennedy to celebrate. This is one of the posters, but there are some lovely press executions too, with well-crafted copy and a clean design. Isn’t it nice when brands do as they say?
Jack
White’s new supergroup, The Dead Weather, perform their first European
gig tonight From the Basement online and on mobile. Check out
www.ftblive.com to sign up for a reminder and watch the in-studio
preparations live as they happen with Nokia N97.
We’ll also be streaming the gig live to Rough Trade East London (get
down there at 6.00 pm to collect your wristband for the live stream and an
in-store gig from White Denim), Avalanche Records Glasgow, Piccadilly
Records Manchester and Rounder Records Brighton.
That’s The Dead Weather, tonight 9.00 pm, at www.ftblive.com.
Global finance director Claudia laughs in the face of recession, goes right ahead and orders the lobster pasta.
Claudia and UK Finance Director Bronwen toast the joy of the Excel spreadsheet.
The bottle bike, in the window of Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam.
The four seater bike for all the family.
The search is now well and truly on to find the BEST creative minds from the arts, sciences and technology backgrounds. 10th July 2009 17th July 2009 24th July 2009 29th July 2009 3rd – 6th August 2009 3rd September 2009 9th September 2009
To be in with a chance of being chosen then respond to our briefs at platform.wk.com.
If you’re successful then you need to be available on the following dates:
Deadline for submission
Announcement of successful applicants to attend open day
Open day
Announcement of successful applicants to work at Platform
Pre-Platform opening collaboration project
Platform launch party
Platform open for business
For all updates follow us on:
W+K London blog: Welcome to optimism
Twitter: wkplatform
Facebook: wkplatform
Website: platform.wk.com
Here’s a sneak preview of the new building in which Platform will live and work.
Are you as excited as we are?
If yes, send us your entry now.
Sam, Lucy and Donna.
Dear Weiden + Kennedy,
I am a 19 year old, entrepreneurial/creative mind. I have between 2-3 groundbreaking business or creative ideas every single day, and to say the least, I do NOT have the capability to even keep track or implement them so; I started a business.
I decided that If I were to ever become successful and impact the world greatly by undertaking huge and "impossible" projects I would need a very balanced, efficient, and productive degree of discipline. Sometimes discipline and creativity/randomness sit on opposite sides of the lunch hall; however, to combine them would I assume be as earth-shattering as balancing the ying and the yang of business.
Behold, my mobile billboard business in Las Vegas, NV. However, I did not have enough money to start it to I decided to sell it first, and with the profits, start it (opposite to the quote "think with your hands, and then talk about it, not in reverse") Well I did it in reverse.
I dressed up in a black and gold suite and tie, drove down to the Forum Shops in Las Vegas, NV (very wealthy shops) and started selling my ideas to the managers, converting them to my corporate sales people, and starting the damning corporate marketing man chase. I thought "wouldn't it be awesome if I had some clout, some pull, to just pitch these ideas,". So out of the few dozen I approached, and followed up over weeks and weeks, I ended up with about 4 hot prospective clients. I mean, one that is looking at buying a marketing package from me for $30,000 U.S. and very, very EXCITED to do so. So I have a feeling my ideas are golden, but I promised myself I would stay here until I make my business, my ad agency, my marketing consulting firm, which I named "Unique and Innovative PRO (Personal Relations Officer)"--a success.
Well what does this have to do with you?
Well I'm a young man, and I "stay stupid, stay foolish (steve jobs)" so I thought I would write this e-mail to someone who has done what I want to do in the advertising/marketing world. I found Weiden + Kennedy from watching everyone of your Nike MVPs videos, and found that you had internships/platform program.
This is what is on my mind:
Nike Factory in the forum shops needs strip advertising; I concepted a Giant Shoe on a platform truck that will drive up and down the strip with a sign in it promoting a weekly event with the local UNLV Basketball team, celebrity, athlete, or locally famous socialite, that would pull customers to Niketown to HAVE FUN. The place is built like a club and it could very well be a sales monster tool, all while the customer is not cheesed by old ad methods.
So To Conclude,
If you were to use me for my ideas and implementation and passion...
If I were to use you as my clout vessel
Your company, Your Ideas, Your advertisements would only progress, and companies that don't keep innovative, fail. (You DO, trust me I've seen your advertising).
I would progress, and become the next YOU, to offer more and more people opportunities to create, and jobs for everyone helping them, and in turn bread for families all over the world.
This is my calling, I am the global entrepreneur.
And I love advertising,
Can We Team Up?
What do YOU propose?
We hired this candidate on the spot.
These ads are part of our new campaign to announce the reopening of Honda's UK factory in Swindon.
At its best, Honda inspires - with cars, with communications, and as a company. The factory in Swindon is a part of this. And the reopening has a broad significance and relevance in the current climate.
“Honda, renowned throughout the world for how it responds to economic change, a microcosm of the UK economy, now ready to grow.”
Faral Islam, C4 News
We've seen people talking about 'the Honda effect', a phrase that I think originates from a famous 1984 paper from the California Review about Honda's success in the US market. You can read the paper here.
“This so-called ‘Honda Effect’ is not just relevant for the car industry, but possibly the whole economy.”
Faral Islam, C4 News
“The more modest example of what you could call ‘The Honda Effect’…that itself will guarantee some pick up in the rate of growth.”
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England
We appropriated the phrase and incorporated it into the campaign. The reopening of the factory is the first bold statement of Honda's intention to assume leadership as the country shows the first signs of emerging from the recession.
Michael may have the bigger glasses, but Liana's take up a larger portion of her face.
Next week Nokia launches its latest device, the N97. It’s a great piece of kit all-round but its speciality is live internet feeds.
For the pre launch campaign that Wieden + Kennedy is developing, Nokia has partnered with From The Basement and legendary producer Nigel Godrich to bring you the first UK performance of Jack White’s (of The White Stripes) new band, The Dead Weather, online as it happens.
At 9pm UK time on 22nd June we’ll be streaming the supergroup featuring White, Alison Mosshart from The Kills, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age and Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs, live online and to mobile.
Visit www.ftblive.com to track the band’s preparations as we countdown to their much anticipated set on Monday, check out an exclusive interview with Nigel, and register for a reminder for the gig.
Remember: 9.00pm UK time, this Monday 22nd June.
Taster: here's their ace new single 'Hang You From The Heavens'.
Seen in street near the office.
Building work is approaching final stages. Yes, that's an 'up and over' garage door.
platform.wk.com
Subscribe to
feed
Recent Comments