welcome to optimism

best ad ever?

Seen in a newsagent's window in Greenwich.

Cut Out And Keep - Save The Date

7pm, Thursday 26th November

We're collaborating with art gallery Hang Up http://hanguppictures.com to launch the debut solo show of Alex Daw, a multi-talented contemporary artist, in The Cole on Hanbury Street on Thursday 26th.
Hang Up is an online gallery that represents young, emerging talent from across the globe and deals in an eclectic range of contemporary, graffiti and street art.  They specialise in sourcing hard-to-find limited edition prints and originals from the leading artists in this scene.
The artist, Alex Daw http://www.hanguppictures.com/_webapp_143523/Alex_Daw brings his warped view of the world of fashion, status and advertising via his ongoing series of compelling contemporary mementos of modern life.  He utilises anything at his disposal - he cuts and paints on a number of surfaces. Culling fragments of pop culture, fashion and art history, Daws' obsessive nature to critique and de-construct objects, results in cut up magazines, and paintings on canvas and glass pieces.
The resulting work is a series of sexy, glossy objects, at once mocking, mimicking and worshipping the cult society they are idolising. He is also satirising the clinical, surgical lengths to which a growing number of celebrities take their obsessive compulsion to alter their physical self.

From our perspective, in this relentlessly digital age, we felt a collaboration of this kind was a lovely opportunity for us to, old-school style, create a 'real-life' experience.  Not to mention a chance to take advantage of the wonderful event space we built this year.  

Plus there'll be lot's to drink and eat.  Havana Club are sponsoring the show - there's talk of enough rum on-site to create 400 cocktails, so we need help getting through it please....

To reserve a space at the private view go to http://www.hanguppictures.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=38690

wieden + kennedy London in Blueprint

 

Piece from the current issue of architecture and design mag Blueprint about our new office space.

introducing wieden + kennedy's new jewellery range: plot

We are proud to announce the launch of Wieden + Kennedy's own line of contemporary jewellery,
with a conceptual twist.  

Lisa Prince, a planner at W+K who encounters a lot of data in her day to day job, noticed from sitting in
the (occasional) boring meeting that the way in which data was being presented was becoming
more interesting, and if you squinted your eye a little, even quite beautiful. When Nicholla Longley (an
art director at W+K) also noticed the rising standard of information graphics they decided to launch a
brand that would bring data and beauty together.

 

The result is PLOT, a brand that takes interesting data and transforms it into wearable art.  Art that
enables the wearer to be informed on a surprising subject, and that gives them a story to tell.

We're always looking for the opportunity to work in new ways that are beyond traditional advertising channels. (For example, this year we  designed windows for Selfridges department store, launched a product range, created a promo video for We Have Band, and designed a  generative brand identity for the onedotzero festival, which manifested itself into an interactive experience.)

The first PLOT line to launch in mid-November is a range of necklaces that celebrates the humble
data behind mighty economies: commodity prices. Each piece is lovingly handmade for us by
Hannah Havanna in her London studio.  

 Each piece shows the historic price of the material in which it is was made. At first glance your
gold necklace is simply a striking graphic shape. At second glance you can inform the admirer that
it is actually the graph for gold prices from 1979-2009 and that Tiananmen Square caused the peak in
1989.

 

And then there's lead...

 

See what we've done here with pencil "leads":

 

And silver...

 

Gold and oil plotted together:

 

 

All your christmas gift worries sorted!

You can check out Plot on Facebook:

As of now, the first release of the wieden + kennedy Plot range will be available in:

Beyond the Valley, Newburgh Street, Carnaby Street. Luna & Curious, Brick Lane.

Or direct from www.thisisplot.com

For more info see the plot website or brand book.Download Plot Brand Book_RRP

hi-di-heil hitler

Good morning, mein kampfers!

This is a genuine new business enquiry we received today:

Hello 

Just a brief introduction to what I am interested in. I am looking for an agency to market a 5-day holiday internationaly here in germany concerning Adolphs Hitlers life eg. birth place, house he was born etc. bunker sight-seeing etc. Please have a look at our website (xxxxx) and get in touch with me again to discuss the matter further regarding a meeting etc

We declined the invitation. Not just for moral or ethical reasons but because of the unforgivably sloppy grammar and punctuation in the prospective client's approach.

The sad and terrible truth is that some agency will find a way of convincing themselves that Hitler holidays are not necessarily a bad thing and they will go after this account.

Farewell then, "Chadsy" Chads

On Friday we said goodnight and good luck to producer extraordinaire Jon Chads, who has been lured away to the dark side by BMB. He's done some terrific work with us and we'll miss him.

 

If you know Jon, you can send him messages of congratulations / commiserations or just take the piss at the Facebook page we set up for him here.

Grey London

It's Monday morning. And we're rebranding.

Even more for your money...

mighty pest message

Download Mighty pests

We get some interesting new business calls.

Pumpking Fiesta

A post-Halloween treat.  Here's our resident champion pumpkin carver Platformer Andy Luke and his award winning ghouly pumpkin head.

the runners-up

Spirit of Highbury

It's finally here!  Four years in the making…  W+K, Nike and Arsenal this week unveiled 'The Spirit of Highbury' - the world's biggest team picture.   Here it is: 

And here's a section:

And here's Danny, Shay and Karrelle - just three of the many, many people involved in its creation.

The permanently fixed structure is housed at The Emirates stadium, and features every Arsenal player and manager to have appeared at Highbury, the Club’s home of 93 years.  You can find it at the South end of the public walkway around the Gunner's state-of-the-art home and will remain as a constant symbol of the Club's proud history. 

The research undertaken to create this artwork has been developed in conjunction with the Club historian Fred Ollier.  It is also crafted to include images ranging from glass negatives to modern digital photography. 

From 1913 to 2006, over 490 first team players and managers graced the Highbury turf.  Images for all of them have been included, with the exception of just four players who still remain missing - Tom Maxwell, William Maycock, James Caldwell and Fred Jones.   Arsenal is inviting all supporters to complete the picture by emailing any images and background information of the missing four to spirit@arsenal.co.uk.

Tony D particularly pleased: “"I said two years ago that I wan't going to cut my hair or shave off my beard until this project became a reality. I've had to spend all that time with an itchy face wearing a hat. I'm bloody delighted that The Spirit of Highbury’ will be there to act as a great testament to how good ideas can continue to resonate in the future. I'm off to the barber's now."

Here's a time lapse film of the structure being built:

Lurpak shoot

 

We're shooting some new work for Lurpak at the moment.

this place runs on marmite

This is what the inside of our kitchen cupboard looks like.

dick powell - better by design

Dick Powell of Seymourpowell Design visited the agency yesterday evening to give us a fascinating and inspiring talk about design and innovation.

Great to hear from someone who really knows about what they're doing in this sector (everything from cordless kettles to spaceships) from a creative and business perspective.

A couple of interesting things:

- seymourpowell's creative process (they call it a 'crucible process') is based on visual concepting - you have to actually draw the product idea to show how it works, the written word being too open to varying interpretations.
- they believe that much of the skill of the product designer is in 'plate-spinning' - balancing all the considerations of how people use things, how they're made, how much things cost, what the client's business needs, etc.

- innovation isn't usually about looking for the 'big idea'; it's about bringing together a series of small ideas in a new, surprising and relevant way.

 

 

A final thought from Dick, via Shaw, paraphrased by me:

You see things and you ask 'why?' But creative people dream things that never were and ask, 'Why not?'

Nokia 'Misfits' Shoot

Last week, some of the Nokia UK team braved the Autumn cold to shoot a series of TV idents for Channel 4's new show 'Misfits' - breaking later this month.

Here is Interactive Producer Ryan with London's poshest creative, Freddie Powell, indulging in a spot of fishing in the depths of Thamesmeade

Karla Stewart - the epitome of 'working remotely'

 

Giles our UK client lending Freddie a helping hand after a long day on set

 

The TV idents, as well as the Mobile App and Widget break on 12th November.

wk platform business cards

The team at Platform, Wieden + Kennedy London's new exerimental creative school / business have been working away on various projects. They also found time to create their own 'top trump' business cards. Here they are.

 

 

new biz update

We can now officially confirm that we won the DCSF Young People and Alcohol pitch, which was handled by the COI.  After four years on the COI roster we are delighted to finally have a live project! The communications campaign is due to launch early next year and aims to influence the attitudes and behaviour of children, young people and their parents and carers. The DCSF’s aim as set out in the Youth Action Plan is for all young people in England to grow up to have a safe and sensible relationship with alcohol. This campaign will complement existing Department of Health and Home Office alcohol campaigns.

This win is the latest in a pretty good run of pitching success this year:

- Nestea global (pitched and won).

- Visit Wales (retained after repitching in statutory review).

- Arla International (pitched and lost to BBDO. Grrr.)

- Arla Lactofree (pitched and won).

- Fairtrade Foundation (pitched and won).

- Selfridges 100th anniversary window installation (pitched and won against a bunch of designers and artists).

- Onedotzero brand identity design (awarded without a pitch).

Six out of seven pitches successfully converted is a pretty good run.

lisa p

Planner extraordinaire Lisa Prince is on maternity leave but she popped in today to catch up on a new project she's developing for us.

happy halloween

Agency pumpkins waiting to be carved.

london's second smallest gallery: a new exhibition

A new exhibition has appeared in London's second smallest gallery: the L Gallery, located in our reception desk. It was created by Kate Slavin and is entitled Leaflets.

'This series of ink drawings is based on my palm plant muse. I am constantly amazed by the beautiful graphic leaflets he delivers in tightly furled tubes. Each one is completely unique and beautifully created, therefore I thought he deserved considerate documentation.' Kate Slavin

kim is fifty

We had a surprise celebration in the agency this evening for ancient and venerable Exec Creative Director Kim Papworth, who just turned fifty. We gave him a lovely chair that is as old as him. Because he likes chairs.

Kim's partner Tony paid tribute to 'the nicest man you'll ever meet in advertising' and we had a 'NICE' birthday cake. (Insert obligatory joke about huge number of candles constituting fire risk here.)

Kim attempts to blow out raging inferno.

 

Thinks: ""if only I hadn't teamed up with bloody Davidson all those years ago, just think what I could have achieved".

Does this milestone mean we can now officially stop being thought of as a trendy 'yoof' agency?

Big Awards - modest ambitions?

Attended the 'Big Awards' at the Grosvenor House last night, at kind invitation of Campaign, the organisers of the event. Inevitably, any criticism of the winning work will be seen as carping, as W+K didn't win much, but I felt that there wasn't very much there in the way of genuinely fresh and exciting stuff. There were a few exceptions, like Fiat eco:Drive and the Queensland Tourism 'best job in the world' campaign, but some of the big winners, like The Natural Confectionery Company 'bring on the trumpets' and the Harvey Nichols Wallace and Gromit ads, while very nice, just seem a bit, well, small. 'Bring on the Trumpets' picked up a gold for 'innovative or ground-breaking thinking in commercial communication'. They're funny ads, but to my mind they're hardly ground-breaking. Feels like we should all be aiming a bit higher, especially in these tough times.

Gold for integrated campaign went to the Stella 'nouvelle smooth' campaign. Surprising choice. For me Compare the Market / Meerkat - which did win gold for TV and digital - was the obvious winner in this category. I'm not a fan of the Stella work and the campaign doesn't even seem particularly well 'integrated'. Aleksandr the meerkat was the only thing we saw last night that is mad enough and engaging enough to have really entered the culture in a truly 'Big' and popular way. But I guess Aleksandr will have his night of glory at the effectiveness awards.

 

W+K's Darren and Ben, last night, with an award. (For Nike in press.)

the stirk has storked part 2*

It's been a while since the Stork last visited W+K towers but it brought a heavy load this weekend. Noah Michael Stirk came in at a sizeable 8lb 13 oz (oof!), courtesy of Andrew and Maggie Stirk.

In other news, our former Planning Director Stuart Smith, now at Google Lab New York, also had a daughter this weekend, named Rosalie Dorothy and another bouncing baby at 8lb 3 oz. We breed them big here.

* I didn't make up this phrase, Stuart did for Andrew's first child. No plagiarism here. No sirree.

'normal' service resumed

Neil C back from sabbatical in the wilderness - Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh (me with mountains - above). It's good to be home. I was welcomed with a spiritually reawakened workstation environment:

 

Thanks to Emma and Graeme for looking after the blog in my absence. Here's an example of great outdoor advertising from my travels:

 

The Bandipur COI open defecation account is locally renowned for ground-breaking work.

W+K Delhi Launches W+K Exp

The W+K office in India is opening the doors of 'W+K Exp' in Delhi on 1st November with an exhibition of works by Bharat Sikka.

The aim of W+K Exp is to make art accessible to everyone, whether a veteran collector looking for an original, or someone who is simply looking for a print for a wall at home.  Their endeavour is to create an experience that's shaped by a belief that art should be stripped of jargon and overloaded price tags, to be enjoyed on visitors' own terms.

Bharat Sikka's fashion photographs have been published in magazines all over the world - he is a frequent editorial contributor to Vogue India. His style is both humorous and dramatic, often using unconventional locations and unexpected points of view.  

The exhibition will run 'til 28th November - if you're in Delhi next month make sure you pop in!

B-10 Triveni Complex, Sheikh Srai Phase 1, New Delhi

www.wkexp.com

 

This Is Why We Meet - Phase 2

Laura writes:

Following this summer's collaborative window project with the University of Arts, This Is Why We Meet moved to central London for Phase 2.  Wieden + Kennedy, with Pat and Trevor, have curated a show of new work from the This Is Why We Meet teams. Since the success of our window installations, we have decided to take the teams and ideas and unleash them on a new exciting space.  A disused shop in the heart of Covent Garden is our venue.  There are rumours that the space was at one time, Paul Smith's former HQ, battling counter-rumours that it used to be an S&M hairdressers.

Either way, we have secured the space for the next two weeks where we will be presenting artists from across the University of the Arts London once again.  Ideas have been taken, warped and furthered from the previous shows, making for a slightly less manic yet equally as inspired den of creativity.  The show includes kaleidoscopes, talking limbs, business plans, a greasy gym and a VERY dark and confusing room.

We held a private view on Monday 19th October which saw the space packed out with London's arteratti.  

See the show for yourself between 11am and 7pm everyday until 30th October at 37 Endell Street, London, WC2.

links in the creative chain

Metro has joined forces with D&AD to report the latest ideas in advertising and design, as chosen by 'the experts' www.metro.co.uk/behindtheidea

In this morning's paper, Grant Parker, Head of Art at DDB London, chose the Nike Livestrong Chalkbot campaign developed by W+K Portland - previously blogged about here: http://wklondon.typepad.com/welcome_to_optimism/2009/09/nike-chalkbot.html

 

We'll hopefully be seeing more of the Chalkbot next year.

onedotzero screening

Last night there was a distinct smell of popcorn on Hanbury Street.  This could only mean one thing: the exclusive onedotzero screening in our very own event space. 

 

A select few had the chance to see (from the confines of a deck chair, which were surprisingly comfortable!) some of the best content from this year's festival.

 
The evening kick-started with an introduction from Tony D and Shane Walter - their friendship led to our creating the onedotzero's festival identity this year.  

'Craftwork' was really interesting, showcasing a revival in a handcrafted approach to motion arts and film.  And then there was H5's award-winning short film LOGORAMA.  Utterly amazing, an animated short film made entirely from hundreds of brand logos.  Its no surprise that the film picked up an award at Cannes this year.

There was a lot of 'that's the best thing I've seen since....' and 'i need to get my hands on a copy...' going on.  We also showcased our interactive installation so guests could see their own personal messages formed by live online conversation - naturally it didn't take Ben Walker long to use the 'c' word....

The night ended on a good note when Karsten Schmidt (the genius behind our application) announced that the identity software is 'open source' and has now been officially released to the digital community.  There'll be more about this later.

onedotzero_adventures in motion 2009/10 is now on tour around the world, and the interesting thing is that our identity continues to live and breathe.  Nice.

W+K Amsterdam Launches 'Imagining Mozambique'

Next week, W+K Amsterdam is launching 'Imagining Mozambique' in New York on 26th October www.imaginingmozambique.com.

The travelling art show collective is a fundraising drive for ASEM http://www.asemworld.org/, a non-profit organization that helps the children and orphans of Mozambique.  The exhibition makes its North American premiere at the MassMarket Gallery on Rivington Street, NYC.

Colonization, civil war, natural disaster and economic instability have plagued Mozambique over the last 25 years, which has led to widespread uncertainty for tomorrow's youth.

'Imagining Mozambique', an idea of Interactive Producer Jamie Kim, is a collection of thought-provoking works of a group of internationally renowned artists - Parra, Superdeux, Florence Manlik, Happy Centro, Marcos Chin - to name a few. The paintings, inspired by the Mozambican children, bring attention to their day-to-day plight for survival and change.

Jamie says, "I had always been very interested in non-profit work. I found the right fit in 2004 when a group of like-minded people, who grew to know about ASEM, began ASEM Canada in Toronto as an official non-profit organization. Since relocating to Amsterdam two years ago, and still sitting on the Board of Directors, I had been working on an exhibition idea that would raise awareness in the local community. The idea was to create a bespoke event that would be fun, relevant and meaningful to the people of Amsterdam and in return, the local community would give to the children who need is so very badly in Mozambique. I began to put pen to paper in December 2008 and quickly realized Imagining Mozambique,. I had nothing to lose by contacting artists around the world and the worst that could happen was getting 'no' as a response. Luckily for me, those who said yes, outnumbered the rest.

I'm very excited to have had so many great people around me including Rae Anne Fera at 'Boards and the guys over at Mass Market who quickly tapped into their extensive NYC network to support the project. Rae Ann put me in contact with MassMarket who were immediately taken by the idea and donated their gallery space on Rivington Street. My many colleagues at W+K NYC have also been tremendously generous in lending me their time and expertise to make this happen and I am confident that the energy to keep this a travelling exhibit will continue into 2010."

Any money raised through sale of the artwork goes directly to ASEM-ASsociation en faveur de l'Enfance Mozambiquaine. Over the past 17 years, ASEM has offered Mozambican children an alternative to living life in the streets, abandonment and rejection from society. The ASEM charity has established various centers to provide shelter, education, and food to thousands of children. Cultural and sports activities are organized and play an important role in the psychological, emotional and physical rehabilitation of the children.

After the tenure at the MassMarket Gallery, the show will move to the Wieden+Kennedy Portland offices for an exhibition in January 2010.  If you're in NYC between 26th October and 1st November do go and have a look....
 

Go Steelers

Chesters writes:

Back in February I mentioned that I'd had dinner at TED in Palm Springs with the lovely Morgan Spurlock - he of 'Supersize Me' fame.

Good bloke.  We had a steak, talked about burgers, and it emerged that he was, amazingly, a Stoke City fan.  Just like me. (Turned out that be became one by virtue of an appearance on Soccer AM to promote 'Supersize Me').

We agreed over dinner to swap shirts so I sent him a 2009/10 season Stoke City shirt to wear proudly all around NYC.  He's a massive Pittsburgh Steelers fan and promised to send one back.

This week, true to his word, a lovely, brand new, spanking 2009/10 Steelers shirt arrived in the post (modelled below) with the note:

'Your very own Superbowl Champions Pittsburgh Steelers jersey.  Now you too can see how clueless fans of American football are in ol' blighty.  Can't be any worse than the 'what's Stoke City?' questions i get.  Morgan'

Big thanks Mr Spurlock.  His new film of Freakonomics comes out later in the year.  I'm going to look out for him wearing his Stoke City shirt in the promos...

Big Mugs

Much excitement amongst the Fairtrade team as the freshly printed Fairtrade Fortnight tent cards arrive at W+K London.

These irresistibly pick-upable big mugs will be sent out to businesses all over the country to sit on peoples' desks and let them know about Fairtrade Fortnight 2010. On the back, the mugs explain our campaign for next year, The Big Swap (swap your usual stuff for Fairtrade stuff), and act as a cheeky reminder to any lazy tea-making co-workers: that it is their turn to get the kettle on, and make a Fairtrade brew.

Enjoying a big cup of tea are Fairtrade team Katherine, Alice (only her second day at W+K, would you believe), Lou and Ray.