W+K London

July 2, 2015

New Friends in the L Gallery

The L Gallery has been inhabited by some freakish but friendly felt figures made by the inimitable Felt Mistress, Louise Evans. The UK based stitcher and prolific tea drinker creates a range of one-off bespoke creatures with her partner-in-crime, illustrator Jonathan Edwards.

Originally trained in fashion design and millinery and with a background in bespoke dress design, Louise brings her whole sewing kit and tricks of the trade to the world of Character Design.

With the likes of Coca-Cola, Nickelodeon, Selfridges and Stylist Magazine amongst FM's collaborations, and counting Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Pete Fowler of Monsterism as special furry friends, Felt Mistress is the ultimate in creature couture.

So let's give the newest members of the W+K fam a warm and heart-felt welcome!

The Twins

Frib and Drib (the Prib twins) are never apart. They appear like clockwork every winter and work their magic on the landscape. They enjoy placing frosted mittens on gateposts and shaking a snowy branch just as you're walking below it.

Trunk & Loggins

Trunk and Loggins are the two main members of the woodland quiz team, The Tree of Knowledge. Winters are spent revising obscure trivia and testing each other's knowledge for future quiz tournaments. They are based in the countryside surrounding Cardiff as they like to be close to the Only Connect studio. In their spare time they perform in the UK's only Dr Seuss-themed Add N to X tribute band "Add Ham to Eggs".

Anton Trench

Owner of Lemon Goon Records. Signed (amongst others) : Hot Mortar, Pale Nancy, Bag For Life and Ian's Dream. If you've heard of them then chances are he doesn't like them.

He's eager to sign leading lights of Hoxton's "Bin-core" scene – Fronto Bonto and Ponto and is in the process of re-issuing The Grimble Twins long deleted experimental album "Vienetta Sunrise”.

Follow on Twitter: @mcfelty

Instagram: @feltmistress

Blog: Felt Mistress

Photo Book 'Creature Couture' is available to purchase via Blank Slate Books.

July 2, 2015

SHOUT! for Stride

When we were developing our latest Stride campaign, we started thinking: ads are expensive, so why don't we get people to make some noise about the brand for free?

Together, we decided to shun traditional media and take Stride's mad intense approach to marketing up a few notches. How? By bribing teens into shouting about Stride's gum. You could say we've taken the concept of “word of mouth” advertising quite literally…

So earlier this week, we made some mischief in Minneapolis by unveiling the ridiculous Shout for Stride vending machine, which dished out freebie packs in exchange for some gutsy behaviour and serious volume.

Not only that, but we drafted in three major online influencers (Brandon Bowen, Marcus Johns and AlliCattt, L-R above) to control the machine and share some behind-the-scenes clips of the ensuing mayhem on Vine and Snapchat with their millions of followers.

All people had to do to get a free pack of Stride was shout awkward phrases displayed on the machine’s screen into its giant green ear. Teens queued up to holler at the machine, shouting things like ‘I WISH MY TONGUE WAS GUM’ and ‘STORM MY CASTLE AND BRING ME STRIDE’ and the boldest and loudest were rewarded with packs of Stride's minty gum.

Hundreds of people gathered for the grand finale at one Minneapolis’ most famous landmarks, the Mall of America, to see the influencers in person and gather for one huge group shout. A shout so loud it sent the machine into overload, showering gum over the whole crowd.

Check out Marcus Johns and Brandon Bowen's Snapchat stories (search usernames "mxjx" and "brandonfromvine" in the Snapchat app) to see more from the day.

Stride Marcus Johns2