W+K London

October 2, 2008

perkins in shanghai

It's Ian here, blog world, hello.

I am currently in shanghai, where i am about to work
with W+K shanghai till the end of the year. I have been out and about
my first few days soaking up some Chinese culture. (see above.)

I have to say Shanghai is amazing. Wo ai Shanghai (I love it). It's really amazing
here. I managed to use my basic mandarin to order food and drinks and
have been understood so far which is pretty nice. On my second day I
was told I have a baby face and rabbit teeth by a nice girl on the
street.

The pictures are of me drinking when I met up with
scott, liana and kerli who I know from W+K. There's me sight seeing…

…and
then there's a tv ship that plays adverts on the river…

…a terrible
haagen-dazs advert "love her, love haagen dazs" (hopefully I can do better
when I get into some projects).

There's an ad agency sign from the
shanghai advertising company, just round from W+K, which sums up
everything that we ad folk offer in a nice little montage.

The
newspapers are displayed each day on the streets (i just look at the
pictures- it was of the chinese astronauts space walking).

There is a mild sulphur smell in the air from all the
construction work, but i haven't found the pollution too bad, but it's the
end of typoon season so i guess the wind is keeping it clearer.

All in all an amazing start to my time here, it's really tai hao le (great).

September 25, 2008

coffee to go

We were talking yesterday in an agency meeting about sticking to our principles in challenging times. News just in from Portland is that we've resigned the Starbucks account.

It's been a tough relationship with Starbucks for the past 4 years and their recent business performance only amplified the challenge. We were burning people out and it was affecting morale at the agency. So we decided to resign the account. The news has already hit the trade press in the States. (See below.)

It's another sign of our independence. Not sure you'll find any other agency resigning a piece of business in this financial climate. But things weren't right and it was time to end it. No direct financial impact on us here in London as Starbucks wasn't a client here, but the good news is we can now work with tea brands in the UK!

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Wieden & Kennedy said it is parting ways with Starbucks, ending a relationship that began in 2004.

"There are times when it just makes sense to part ways with a client," Wieden founder Dan Wieden said in a statement. "In this case, this seems to be the best decision for both parties."

A call to a Starbucks media hotline wasn't immediately returned.

Wieden, which also handled media buying and planning for the coffee roaster, had been responsible for the first large-scale advertising in Starbucks' history, including its first TV push last winter.

But Starbucks' business has fallen on hard times of late. In July it announced it would close 600 stores.