W+K Pick Up Selfridges
Brief
15.05.2009 | New business
Wieden + Kennedy London has been appointed by Selfridges & Co. to create an installation in the Oxford Street store’s Wonder Room Windows. The new installation is part of the iconic department store’s 100 Year Anniversary celebrations this year and will be unveiled in July 2009.
In celebration of 100 years of trading, Selfridges & Co. decided to celebrate the future rather than looking to the past, so the pitch for the design of the windows was to devise ‘an ad-hoc vision of domestic design utopia in 2109’.
The Wonder Windows link the outside of the store to the Selfridges Concept store and Wonder Room which is undoubtedly the most high profile area of the store. They have a reputation for showcasing bespoke artworks by both up-and-coming and more established artists in these windows. They are treated as installation spaces and are regarded by the press and art world as such.
Sarah McCullough, Concept Manager, Selfridges & Co. said ‘Working with Wieden + Kennedy has really given us the opportunity to push the spaces in a new direction, by working in tandem with the Selfridges creative brief of 2109. The W+K proposal was at once accessible and inventive and has been hugely well received by all parts of the business. We predict that the tongue in cheek wit and whimsical but dark inventions will be a great crowd pleaser.’
Tony Davidson, Executive Creative Director, Wieden + Kennedy said ‘I hate being pigeon-holed and confined to traditional advertising, so its nice when you find yourself winning pitches against product designers and artists, not advertising agencies’.
Tom Seymour, Creative, Wieden + Kennedy said, ‘Both Selfridges and Wieden + Kennedy have a similar way of thinking in terms of playfulness and witty humour. This is a fantastic opportunity to be working with a like minded brand and to be seen doing alternative projects beyond traditional advertising.”