We always used to share the agency’s objectives for the year on this blog. We announced some goals internally at the start of 2016 but didn’t get around to sharing them on here. But given that we just revisited those 2016 goals to see how we did, we can now, belatedly, share them with our valued readers. So, how much of what we set out to do in the year did we actually manage to achieve?
- Broaden our business beyond advertising
We launched several innovative initiatives, from a Black Friday VR shopping experience to a seasonal Spotify game. We made acclaimed music promos for Khruangbin and Powell. And we pitched a TV series. OK, this perhaps didn’t all add up to a radical reinvention of the ad agency model, but it was a promising start to build on for 2017.
- Embrace youth and diversity
We launched our creative school come talent magnet, The Kennedys; we partnered with the Hackney Good Jobs initiative; we did the Diversity Boot Camp; we continued with our Forever Curious programme, working with local schools; we brought in our first Apprenticeships and signed up for the Livity Programme. Good progress.
- Improve ‘wellbeing’
Our ‘new ways of working‘ initiative has been successful, with the trial of a number of new guidelines. (Including – no email between 7pm – 8am, internal meetings restricted to 10am – 4pm, office closes at 4.30pm every Friday, 40 hour week etc.) Pretty much everyone who responded to the post-trial survey said that they’d benefited from a bit more time to themselves to do stuff, think about stuff, read stuff, write stuff. No clients reported a decline in the quality of work or service. Some people are struggling with the meeting times, so we need to work on this one and look at being more efficient in the way we plan and conduct our meetings.
This doesn’t mean the job is done on ‘wellbeing'(I hate that term); we will continue to do what we can to make this a place where people are proud to be and where they feel supported and able to do their best.
- Make it easier for talent to move between W+K network offices
This one turns out to be a legal and logistical challenge; the current political climate is inclined to discourage staff mobility internationally. So this is a work in progress that we continue to review. In 2016 six people transferred from London to other offices. And two people moved from the network to London. So it was more export than import. We believe it’s good for our people and good for the network to give people the chance to move between offices, so we will continue to try to make transfers possible in future, for both long term and temporary transfers.
- Act more quickly
This objective was born partly out of frustration with how long it was taking for some people to get work out on some accounts, and partly out of wondering whether different ways of working might help us to develop better work more efficiently. So we looked at a few possible remedies: a creative restructure into CD groups with greater independence, an ongoing review of production structure and processes, trying out new ways of working like ‘design sprints’ and the fast track pitching. We continue to discuss things with our clients to agree mutually beneficial ways of working together. Let’s be clear: the aim here, on all accounts, is not to churn out a load of crap at high speed, but to help people get out more good work.
- Stay creatively driven
(Last on the list, but most important.) I hope there’s no doubt that this place is still driven by creativity ahead of anything else. We spent the year continuing to push ourselves and our clients to do excellent work, and trying to identify the new biz opportunities that will allow us to do great stuff. Neither of these things is getting any easier. While in 2016 we produced a ton of work we can be proud of, that doesn’t mean we can afford to be complacent. So, THE WORK will be our focus for 2017. (More on this below.)
Other stuff
There are some other things we achieved in 2016 that aren’t really related to these goals but are still worth mentioning. We won Sainsbury’s, Babbel and another juicy account we can’t announce yet. We made 43 (!) new hires. We had an outstanding year for our internal training and development programme, WK Ed, with a wide range of thought-provoking sessions around the theme of storytelling. We won Gold at the Effies for Three. We did a bunch of good stuff for our community including Cheryl’s Walk, Martyn’s charity bike ride, and our Car Boot Sale. In all we raised £16,000 for St Joseph’s Hospice.
And (it would be remiss of me not to mention it again!) Campaign named us a runner-up network of the year and agency of the year. They said, ‘This year was another 12 months of strong work from Wieden & Kennedy London. Its “Ridiculous possibilities” campaign for 2015 win TK Maxx gave the brand a much-needed refresh. There was also more standout creative work for Three, Lurpak, Nike and Finish. But the major reason W&K sits so high on this list is its stunning capture of the Sainsbury’s ad account, ousting AMV after 35 years. After struggling with Tesco*, W&K has another chance to show it has the capacity and planning nous to run a major retail account. The agency’s success with TK Maxx should stand it in good stead.’ (*Struggling? Tesco were the ones struggling at the time. Just saying.)
So, a big thank you is due from me (Neil) to everyone at W+K London. We didn’t achieve all our goals but we did bloody well. And that was down to our people’s hard work, commitment, good humour, weirdness and loveliness. (Proud.)
OK, that’s enough sentiment and nostalgia, you fucking snowflakes. What’s the plan for 2017, I hear you asking.
The plan for 2017 (since you asked)
All the things mentioned above – youth, diversity, wellbeing, The Kennedys, our local community, business diversification, weirdness, loveliness – are still important. And we will continue to support them. But for 2017 we believe the priority is to focus on our output.
If we do great work, everything else follows.
So W+K London ‘management’ will be focused on how we can help everyone do their best to make better work. As has been said before – the work comes first. That’s job number one and it is the key goal for 2017: do the best work of our lives.
And there are already a few work-type things to be excited about for 2017 with new work in development for several clients, some exciting pitches already underway and the new Sainsbury’s work launches imminently and it is bloody ace.
Lots to look forward to for the new year.
Keep the faith, true believers.
