WIEDEN & KENNEDY LONDON
Independent creative agency
The key event for Wieden & Kennedy’s 2016 was its capture of Sainsbury’s £67m ad account, luring the retailer from 35-year incumbent Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. This went some way to making up any shortfall from the loss of the £110m Tesco business in 2015. The agency’s first work for the brand, “Food dancing”, launched at the start of 2017 and was well-received.
A sore point of the year was the loss of Southern Comfort, for which Wieden & Kennedy has produced some great campaigns, after the brand was sold by Brown-forman to Sazerac. It also parted ways with Ovo Energy and Action for Children.
Wieden & Kennedy continued to produce exceptional work for clients including Finish, Babbel and Lurpak. The “Powerball vs life” ad for Finish, in particular, was one of best TV ads of the year and showed once again that the agency can produce interesting creative in a mundane category.
Other activity included “Ridiculous possibilities”, the agency’s first work for TK Maxx, which helped boost the retailer’s UK profits by 11%. There was also a quirky campaign to relaunch Maynards Bassetts.
The stable management team played no small part in Wieden & Kennedy’s strong performance. Perhaps as a recognition of this, executive creative director Iain Tait, chief strategy officer Paul Colman and deputy managing director Helen Andrews were promoted last year to join Neil Christie and Tony Davidson on the network’s expanded global leadership team.
Moreover, the agency instituted new working policies to try to end its reputation as “Weekend & Kennedy”. The drive includes only allowing meetings between 10am and 4pm, and preventing work emails from being read or sent after 7pm.
Wieden & Kennedy was a runner-up for Campaign’s
Agency of the Year in 2016, and it should hold its head high after an impressive 12 months.