Wieden + Kennedy has been named Agency of the Year by key US trade mags Advertising Age and Creativity.

"For the first time, Ad Age and Creativity are honoring the same top shop. And for good reason. When it came to bold idea-making and strong execution, nobody did it like this Portland, Ore.-based stalwart. Couple that with its newfound mettle in building strong client bonds and it won the business case, too."

Creativity said:

"Creativity considers all agency types in its agency of the year selection process — digital, full service and everything in between — so only one top agency emerges from that multidisciplinary pile. But no agency can win without demonstrating a "digital" mindset in its work, and an overall fitness to thrive in a digital world. Wieden simply represented the best all-round agency, one that happened to distinguish itself by having the best digital campaign of the year."

These latest accolades come on top of what was a pretty amazing 2010 for W+K in terms of Agency and Campaign of the Year-type things. There's no way to list this stuff without sounding like a bunch of smug gits, but here goes:

– Campaign Network of the Year 2010 

– Adweek Agency of the Year 2010

– Advertising Age agency of the Year 2010 

– Creativity Agency of the Year 2010 

– SHOOT magazine Agency of the Year 2010

– Ranked by clients as UK’s #1 digital agency (Pitch / YouGov survey)

– Ranked by strategic planners as world’s #1 (equal) for planning

– Five out of the year’s top ten most-watched brand virals on YouTube

– Nike Write the Future named Campaign’s Campaign of the Year

– Three Grands Prix at Cannes Festival

– Top prize at Campaign Big Awards for Nike

– Top prize at Epica Europe Awards for Nokia

– Top Prize at One Show Interactive for Nike

Phew.

Creativity quotes founder Dan Wieden as follows:

"In any company you go through a period of thinking, this is not like the good old days," Mr. Wieden said. "Well, the good old days were never as good as this last year."

Artist Nina Paley took her camera, and some volunteers, to the Met Museum in NYC and took photos of 914 statues and then combined them to make a moving, dancing video sculpture. Her thesis is that all creative work builds on what has gone before.

She says, "The whole history of human culture evolves through copying, making tiny transformations (sometimes called "errors") with each replication. Copying is the engine of cultural progress. It is not "stealing." It is, in fact, quite beautiful, and leads to a cultural diversity that inspires awe."

So, does that mean it's OK for agency creatives to borrow ideas from YouTube?

You can find out more about how and why she did it here.

I found the video at TV Mole.