The renowned Mr Stuart Smith, formerly Planning Director of W+K London, has returned to the Wieden family after a couple of years at Google Creative Labs. He's now Planning Director at W+K New York. He popped over today for a catch-up. We thought he was probably missing proper British food after his time in the USA, so we took him round the corner from WK Towers to St John for some delicious blood cake and white faggots. Not the kind of thing you can ask for in New York without getting into all sorts of trouble. Yum.

David Fisher and Matt Gilbert of The Guardian visited Wieden + Kennedy today to talk about Open Platform, which makes Guardian content and resources available to developers to allow them to create tools and applications.

David Fisher (Head of Brand Partnerships) and Matt Gilbert (Head of Business Development) of The Guardian visited Wieden + Kennedy today to talk about Open Platform, which makes Guardian content and resources available to developers to allow them to create tools and applications. It's a fascinating initiative that aligns commercial strategy with editorial vision. While competitors are putting up walls, The Guardian is opening its doors. As editor Alan Rusbridger said in his Hugh Cudlipp Lecture:

Many of the Guardian's most interesting experiments at the moment lie
in this area of combining what we know, or believe, or think, or have
found out, with the experience, range, opinions, expertise and passions
of the people who read us, or visit us or want to participate rather
than passively receive.

So, watch this space for news of tools and apps developed by Wieden + Kennedy using Guardian content, for ourselves and for our clients.