Every year, we celebrate the day two guys dived head first into the world of independent advertising, asking themselves “what’s the worst that could happen?” That day was April 1st 1982, the day Wieden+Kennedy was founded. Was it a coincidence the agency was started on April Fool’s Day? Who knows. But what we do know is that our annual Founders’ Day celebrations are a chance for the whole agency to get away from the office, be together, get inspired and be creative.

Our organising committee meets under the cover of darkness (the padded cell) and schemes up an event to remember. This year, all we were told in advance was: don’t wear a skirt and bring wellies. So no kilts for Mr Christie then.

After a couple of hours in a bus with our hooded guides, we found ourselves on Osea Island in Essex.

It’s only reachable for a few hours a day when the tide is out, and the island’s history includes and World War I military base and a treatment facility. This was our home for 36 hours. This year’s theme was ‘W+Kult’, because from the outside, well… here’s what original W+Kult leader Dan Wieden, beamed in from Portland on the day, had to say to us:

And so we zipped up our Kult-issued boiler suits, and after a spot of wellie-clad yoga on the beach, got stuck into the brief: form a cult.

These were our spiritual guides on the day:

Who made us eat worms:

And put on masks:

And compose our own mantras:

After a (not so) gruelling day of creativity, fun and games, the whole thing culminates in a party. This year, we celebrated with with a hog roast and fire dancers.

A big thank you to our W+K Founders’ Day organising crew: Paulo Salomao, Laura McGauran, Mike Waywell, Ronny Harmes, Nicola Yurman, Laura Barker and Lara Wahab, and to Wonderland Events, for putting so much work into giving us all a day to remember. We bow down to you all.

Check out photos of our Kults after the jump.

The Kult of Crouton:

The Kult of Theo (our planner…awkward):

The Kult of Skol:

The Kult of Whitney Jackson:

Children of the Tongue:

The Kult of Pamela Anderson:

The Kult of Sandra:

The Kult of Helen’s puppies:

The Kult of Donkey:

The Kult of Kanye:

Yesterday was our annual founders’ day event; this year was the 31st anniversary of the founding of Wieden + Kennedy. To celebrate, the agency went on a camping trip. The excitement was in tents.