thoughts on W+K’s annual ‘school report’
It’s nearly half term and, as is traditional at this time of year, the advertising trade journal Campaign has published its annual ‘school reports’ on agency performance. The report on W+K is mostly very positive but I suppose it’s only to be expected that it is coloured somewhat by Campaign's perception of the significance of our parting ways with Tesco. They infer that it signifies an inability to manage big accounts. The perception from the inside is a bit different. The trouble with Tesco wasn't its size; the real problems were the issues within Tesco's business and its culture that have led to its recent difficulties. These were things beyond our control. We wish Tesco all the best under its new leadership team and with its new agency, but we have no regrets about the parting of ways. For ourselves, we believe it’s better to be better than it is to be bigger.
Campaign scored us 7 (‘good’ – the same score we awarded ourselves – though we wrote our self assessment prior to the loss of Tesco) and said, “Judged on its ads, Wieden & Kennedy London is a match for any UK agency. But the loss of the £110 million Tesco business to Bartle Bogle Hegarty in January 2015 has got people asking if it is set up to handle big accounts. It is true that the supermarket was mired in scandal and needed to show that it was making root-and-branch transformations but W&K never looked comfortable in the relationship and its campaigns lacked the quality and innovation that the agency brings to other clients. What’s more, this is familiar territory for W&K. In 2011, it lost the £80 million Nokia business (admittedly, another brand far from rude health) and had to cut a third of its staff.
The managing director, Neil Christie, has said that he does not expect redundancies this time round, but recent wins – including RB’s Finish and Chambord, and more work from Arla – won’t plug the gap left by Tesco. (This is true. But Finish, plus Arla, plus Chambord, plus Ovo, plus Tyrrells, plus a recent large win we have yet to announce will hopefully do it.)
Elsewhere, W&K was responsible for some of 2014’s best ads. Three’s "#SingItKitty" was a viral smash on a par with "the pony" and Honda’s "the other side" was the envy of creative departments around the world. Few digital shops create ads as innovative as "the other side" and none can match W&K’s populist touch. Even more impressively, the interactive spot was made before Iain Tait arrived from Google to replace Kim Papworth (who will stay on as a senior creative) as one of the executive creative directors. Rivals should be nervous.
Christie and co have worked hard (Christie hasn’t worked that hard, it’s mainly been ‘and co’ that have done the work) to make W&K the best US-agency outpost in London (Just to be 100% clear, the objective here has never been anything to do with being ‘best US agency outpost in London’; the goal is simply to be the best) and all the talk about Tesco should not detract from its achievements in building a consistently excellent creative team.
But Dan Wieden – reputedly a curious blend of hippy and hard-nosed businessman – will likely be asking what it is about this office and heavy-lifting accounts. (Well, Dan hasn’t mentioned it. So far, at least.)
How the agency scores itself: 7
How the agency rates itself: Not a bad year. We did some great work across a broad range of clients, getting many mentions in the selections of 2014’s best by Campaign, Fast Company, YouTube etc. We achieved some strong results. We picked up a bunch of awards. We had a successful year of new business. And we hired some great new people, including Iain Tait, who (re)joined as ECD from Google.
All in all, I can't grumble too much about this report, even if I disagree with the suggestion that we struggle with big accounts. We have struggled with two big accounts: Tesco and Nokia. Both of these were companies in crisis. We appreciate that our good work over the year on other accounts, big and small, has been recognised. So, post Tesco, it's business as usual for W+K London: aiming to do the best work of our lives for great clients. Onwards and sideways, as Kim P always says.
