Hanif and Rocky pull a Banksy and make a contribution to the Adchini cultural scene with this stenciled ampersand.
'The secret of my success is failure and uncertainty'
Our founder Dan Wieden will be speaking at Goafest this year. For those of you who may not know too much about him and haven’t read Where The Suckers Moon yet, here are some excerpts from an article from 2007 published in The Independent.
“W&K has grown with Nike, building one of the greatest global brands and at the same time expanding its defiantly independent operation to New York, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Shanghai. This has been W&K's extraordinary achievement, to maintain its reputation for risky, left-field advertising whilst maintaining a roster of clients that includes such giant all-American brands as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Subaru and Miller beer.
On a recent visit to London, Dan Wieden explains the DNA of his unique agency and what he makes of the advertising industry's future. W&K, he says, still thrives on a culture "built around a friendly relationship with chaos". "I think it's important that if you're going to be innovative, that there's not a process for everything. Sometimes it seems that if you're never lost you're never going to wind up any place new. It's only if you're willing to be completely fucked-up that you're going to do anything important," says Wieden, who has a silver beard and a barking ringtone on his mobile ("I'm sorry, I keep a dog in my pocket...")
Yet W&K could not have maintained long-standing relationships with such global clients without a high degree of diligence with regard to the financial side of the business. "There are parts of the agency that operate with the precision of a German railroad," he says. "We try to be as old fashioned as humanly possible when it comes to our books. The tracking of projects, the planning and research is very traditional, very methodical."
On Nike
The relationship with fellow Oregon company Nike has been fundamental. "We're here because of Nike. They were a small shoe company and we were four people trying to buy shoes for our kids. Because of our close relationship, I think that there's many of the same gene pool, almost literally the same gene pool, floating around both companies." The familiarity and success of the two businesses does not have to mean the advertising work is predictable, Wieden claims. "Phil Knight (the Nike founder) loves, and has always loved, to take risks, and he took risks with us.
On Just Do It
That company continues to thrive on throwing out old ideas, embracing new things and waiting to see what happens."
When Wieden looks back at how that "Just Do It" end line came about, he admits it was proposed as nothing more than a "connecting device" to link a group of eight Nike television commercials. "I hated tag lines, we all did, I thought they were dumb. So I wrote, like, six things. 'Just Do It' was one of them. I showed it to some folks in the agency and they went 'Do you think we need that goddamn thing?' " says Wieden, who decided the line should remain. "We just typed it out on typewriters, then blew it up, and put it on a board. It was not a big deal, seriously. Then when it actually aired, it surprised everybody involved because it apparently spoke some truth that was larger than sport or advertising. There's no explaining that thing. Nobody understood that it was going to take off like that."
On The Chinese Market
He is especially thrilled by the "explosive, unpredictable" Chinese market, where W&K opened an office two years ago. "There's just an incredible vibrancy – it's just like unleashing a lot of fresh eyes on old problems," he says of the emerging Chinese advertising industry.
On Interactive
Wieden did not immediately appreciate the importance of the interactive world of new media and is now trying to make up for lost time. "To be honest, we were very late getting into the interactive thing, but we are headstrong about it now," he says. "I mean, we were playing around with interactive, but we were not obsessed with it. We are now obsessed with it." Like so many others, he is not entirely clear "how we can keep doing what we are doing and make as much money" in the digital arena, yet the chaos and uncertainty appeals to him.
On TV ads
He says television work is being undermined in terms of finance and creative energy.
"I'm not sure television is where the most revolutionary work is taking place right now. Production budgets have shrunk, which should not be a break on creativity, but there's not as much psychic energy in television as there is in the interactive space," he says. "But it's still an incredibly magic medium that has the ability to engage you emotionally in ways that few other mediums do. It's great for storytelling."
On Independence
The independence of W&K, rare in a world of advertising conglomerates, is an essential part of its DNA. "David Kennedy and I are creative guys. We set out to create a second-generation independent advertising agency that would exist long after we were gone. We may have sacrificed a lot of financial gain, but [independence] has allowed us to make decisions more freely. We have the ability, when we don't see eye to eye with a client, to say 'It's not working, what shall we do?' and not feel like we have stockholders in the room making that decision for us." Dan Wieden is an influential man, named one of America's top 25 "most intriguing entrepreneurs". But his success, he says, has come from not compromising his creative instincts. "In this business, you follow one of two masters: you either follow the muse or you follow the dollar..."
Sunil and Mohit were in SA a few weeks back. They were asked to speak at Design Indaba this year joining creative people from different sectors –graphic design, film, music, fashion design, industrial design, architecture, craft, visual art, new media, publishing, broadcasting and performing arts. Here’s an excerpt of Sunil answering audience questions.
Shuchi and Momo participated in Desert Storm Rally 2009 held during 17 - 22nd Feb. They travelled Delhi-Bikaner-Jaisalmer-Rann Of Kutch-Pingleshwar Beach-Udaipur. Pretty gruelling schedule, that. It's a minor achievement that they completed the rally, notwithstanding the fact that they came first in their category. Congratulations to both of them. Nobody's going to pick on little Momo anymore. Or maybe not.
One month after getting cameras for Diwali, there was no better way to celebrate this one-month anniversary than to take lots of pictures and share them. So, we asked everyone in the office to shoot everything and anything they wanted and share their favourite picture with the rest of us. After five days, four e-mail reminders, two verbal shout-outs and a technical snag, we managed to get 25 pictures.
Amsterdam: Prasad
Rembrandt's etching machine: Prasad
Chasing Thakur: Annalisa
Family Guy: Bala
The 76-year-old Marathon Runner: Evelina
Band of Brothers: Hanif
An Aerial View of Bangalore: Hanif
Health Check-up for Rs.10/- Only: Harish
IAF 737 Holding for Takeoff in Delhi Fog: Mohit
Leaving Portland: Rajesh
Spelling Check: Molona
Bheja Fry: Molona
Gujju Wedding: Nirmal
Auto-rickshaw Driver: Nusrat
Ancient Well: Rocky
Puppy Love: Sahiba
CTU Bus: Shuchi
Sunlight: Sunil
Wow. And we thought old fashioned romance was dead. Special delivery for Nusrat today – a massive bouquet of red flowers. And a box of Lindt too. No note either.
Parul Sharma was born 13 August 1983. Same day as Sridevi. She’s a Delhi girl, born and raised in the capital.
First Job > Sahara Airlines. She’s traveled all over the place on account of her stints with Sahara and IndiGo. She didn’t mind her previous job too much but says it isn’t her cup of tea. Too many angry people asking for stuff. All the effin time.
Childhood Ambition > An astronaut but changed her mind later because she didn’t like the outfits.
Fondest Memory > Her wedding day.
Favourite Book > Her latest obsession is British author Sophie Kinsella. She finds the lead character Rebecca Bloomwood hilarious and cites Elizabeth Bennett from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice a real role model.
Last purchase > A pair of musical hairbands as a farewell gift for her new BFFs Lucia & Himali (Tom & Joe).
Predictions > In the future, Shah Rukh will opt for major facial reconstruction and turn into a vague, creepy thing like MJ. Noida will become cool. (Thinks for a minute, then changes her mind.) Noida will never be cool. She likes trains and thinks Laloo will make the Railways really snazzy.
If she were made Queen for a day > She would give 90% off on all big cars. Only to women. She also clarifies that it would apply only to the BMW 7 series, Audi Q7 and A8 and the Mercedes S Class. Cause all the other cars are just crappy.
Did we mention she’s a Delhi girl?
Parul is Executive Assistant at W+K Delhi
Himali & Lucia. Way prettier than Tom & Joe. And a welcome addition to the office. Himali loves samosas and Lucia’s advice to everyone at W+K is "never mix martini shots and sushi". Useful advice, that. Himali has agreed to be Tom and Lucia will be Joe while they are in Delhi. They love their cook Gauri and think Parul is ‘like a flower’.
Among the forwards doing rounds currently is a blog by an enterprising young artist who puts the Wieden philosophy to work around the house.
Born 17th April 1986
Hometown: Savar Kundla, Gujarat
Height: 5 feet
Preference in women: Women who are taller than him (All women, basically)
Last song he will listen to before he dies: Yeh Nayen Dare Dare by Hemant Kumar (will probably also be the cause of death)
Ultimate fantasy: To catch a King Cobra. Or a black Mamba.
Last purchase: Mishti Dahi
Favourite Movie: Sholay
After spending 20 minutes with Rocky trying to elicit interesting answers out of him, we have come to the conclusion that there is nothing of any interest to anyone in Rocky’s life. Except for the fact that he likes to catch snakes. Here’s a picture of Rocky showing us what he does on the weekends.
Rocky enriches all our lives by showing us a snake’s private parts.
Some people like to sit on a deck chair with a beer and watch television on Sundays. Some, wear pajamas and get brutally assaulted. Mohit hasn't turned up with any shiners at office as yet, so we assume he's the one dishing it out. In this video we see the instructor preparing to violently attack a roof tile positioned carefully on Mohit's belly.
For reasons unknown, he doesn't have the rest of the video. But for those of you who can't bear the suspense, the story ends with the tile shattered and Captain Jayal shaking debris off his pjs. At least, that's what Mohit tells us.
Some of Shuchi’s pics from the Himalayan Rally 2008. After prolonged interrogation Shuchi sheepishly admitted that she finished 1st in the women’s category.
with zuzer
with sid lo during an earlier jaunt
