It's definitely summer in London; you can tell by the baking heat that cooks up an effluvious reek of human ordure and rotting trash around Shoreditch High Street station. Like Proust's madeleine in faecal form, this olfactory cocktail reminds me that we're more than half way through 2014 and that it's a suitable time for a wee review of the year so far.
How was 2013?
First of all, just to remind ourselves of a few hghlights from last year.
We won Shots ad of the year (for Honda Hands) and were Shots Agency of the Year. They said “Wieden+Kennedy has demonstrated once again how to create iconic work, irrespective of the category in which it plays. They don't just create great content, they seem to create new benchmarks – with freakish consistency." Nice.
We were YouTube’s most-watched UK agency of 2013, with campaigns created in 2013 attracting over 43 million views throughout the year, 13 million of which were attributed to our Nike spot 'Endless Possibilities'.
We welcomed 88 new joiners – that’s about 40% of the agency who were new in 2013.
We won some new business, including Halls (globally) and Arla Foods (international).
And we were rated ‘excellent’ by Campaign in their annual agencies 'school report'. They commented that '"the pony" spot for Three, released in February, was a genuine viral smash and easily the 2013 highlight. That said, its spots for Honda and Lurpak would make anyone’s highlight reel for the year too.They also said it was “a good year for an agency that seemed to be enjoying itself”
So a pretty good 2103. Now, on to 2014.
More work
We’ve done some great work so far this year across all our clients. Here are a few highlights:
One more thing on the work so far this year: it was particularly sweet to win gold at Cannes for Lurpak in both effectiveness and creativity. This combination of great work and demonstrably great results is what we’re aiming for on every client. It builds clients' business, bonds relationships, and protects our bottom line. All of which is nice.
More smarter
We’re continuing to roll out internally our revamped WKEd training and development programme to help everyone develop new skills and realise their potential.
We’ve launched the ‘Handy Little thing’ skills-swap scheme, where people teach others on their areas of knowledge and expertise, from 'How to be a powerpoint ninja', to 'An introduction to Catalan culture', to 'Essential tips on punctuation'.
We sent people to all sorts of conferences and seminars, from TED to SXSW to Cannes and had them report back on what they learned.
And we did a bit of restructuring to help us manage growth and work smarter, promoting Helen Foulder to Deputy MD, Andy Kay to Head of Account Handling and Beth Bentley to Head of Planning. All those guys are getting to grips with their new responsibilities and figuring out how we can maximise the inspiring and minimise the tiring.
And IT switched us all over to G-mail, which I know has been really popular, especially with me.
More different
We launched our Forever Curious project to help inspire creativity in local kids. Last week, following an inspiring series of 'my creative spark' card creation sessions and spark card workshops with pupils from Millfelds and Newport primary schools, we held an exhibition of the work we've been creating together over the past couple of months, at The Rag Factory, just off Brick Lane.
In partnership with Enabling Enterprise, we hosted a challenge day for a group of 20 students from Stamford Hill primary school where, over the course of a day, we attempted to give these kids a taste of what it’s like to work in the creative industry.
We expanded into the Wilkes Street wing, giving everyone some much-needed breathing space.
We’ve also tried to freshen up the Hanbury Street space with things like the Biscuit Room and the undersea world of the lift-space.
We continued our commitment to The International Exchange and Ben Shaffery will be the next person we send off to share their skills with organisations, people and communities from the emerging world.
We launched the Spore fund to support our people in getting their personal creative projects off the ground.
We’re currently working on launching the London arm of what has variously been called Platform / 12 / The Kennedys – our own school for emerging, diverse creative talent. The plan this time is to link it up internationally across the US, London, Amsterdam and Shanghai to offer a magnet for young talent across the world.
And we adopted a flamingo.
More talent
We’ve continued to strengthen and broaden our team, with 36 new joiners so far this year across all departments, taking our numbers up to around 220 permanent staff.
More fun
We’ve had bake-offs, an easter egg hunt, stairwell exhibitions, a Eurovision celebration, gallery trips, a visit from a Findlandia mixologist, a giant edible version of Tony’s head, a cult meeting on an island, parties, piss-ups and all sorts of celebrations. Some of which were actually “fun”, I’m told.
And we got hold of some Google Glasses (or do you say 'a Google Glass'?) and as part of an extensive experimentation and learning programme, we got Sandra the landlady from the Golden Heart to wear them. Not sure where they are now.
What else?
We picked up new business from Finish (globally), Trident (North America), Chambord (international) and UKTV (the clue to geography on this one is in the name). A 100% conversion rate and a strong performance in a very quiet and highly competitive new biz market. We’ve also been successful in growing our business with existing clients.
The new business pipeline is currently busy with opportunities in sectors including technology, drinks, sports, airlines, health, baby products, and entertainment, so things are looking healthy.
What next? There’s plenty more to come in the second half of the year.
– Iain Tait joins in a few weeks to partner with Tony D and to help continue to push our creative work in new and innovative directions that will help give our clients an edge against their competitors.
We’ve nearly signed the deal on extending our building. The plan is to rent the old stable block diagonally behind us, between Hanbury Street and Commercial Street. We’ll connect it to the current space at number 16 Hanbury, transform it into workspace without buggering up its original character and also renovate and rejuvenate number 16. Quite a lot of time and money later we should have an amazing new home without actually having to move house.
Beyond that there is not, and has never been, a secret Wieden+Kennedy Master Plan. The plan is pretty straightforward: find lots of great people, help them do the best work of their lives with great clients, and repeat as necessary. Sounds simple, but it takes lots of talent, trust and hard work, some great talent and some awesome clients.
So that’s the plan for the rest of the year. And beyond.
