Oregon’s Trailblazing Wieden and Kennedy

On April 1,1982, Copywriter Dan Wieden and Art Directot David Kennedy started their own Advertising Agency in Portland, Oregon, USA. Their founding client from the Beaverton area of Portland, was a sportswear apparel company who owned a brand named after the Greek Goddess of Victory, and that of course, was Nike.

Just Do It.

Wieden+ Kennedy rapidly rose to international prominence with their award-winning print, outdoor and TV commercials for the Nike brand, and Dan Wiedens’s pay-off line, ‘Just Do It.’, that was inspired by the last words of executed murderer Gary Gilmore, became world-famous. Not surprisingly perhaps, is that to this day, Wieden+ Kennedy is still Nike’s Agency of Record.

Following on from Nike, their client roster soon included famous brands from companies such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Honda and in the 2002 the Gunn Report, W+K was named as the most-awarded agency in the world.

Viewing New Horizons

The Agency’s expanding clientele list saw the need for establishing an office in New York City. Offices in London, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi and São Polo subsequently followed. Wieden and Kennedy however, retained their independence to become one of the largest independent agency networks in the world.

Wieden+Kennedy on ACES

Viewers familiar with the ACES website would have encountered many examples of the network’s American and British agency award winning commercials for a diversity of brands.

I have however, largely confined this post to the Agency’s noteworthy initiatives for Nike in some of the other international markets in which it currently operates.

The ‘Da-Da-Ding’ launch commercial, directed by François Rousselet, was a creative triumph. Featuring Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and many of India’s top female athletes, representing a wide range of sporting disciplines, it rapidly went viral and motivated 2,8 million views on YouTube in less than a week.

Deepika Padukone posted a video on social media that generated further interest and many ‘shares’ with her message: “Everything I am today, and everything I have achieved, comes from my years of playing sport,”

“My goals, my commitment, my focus, my dedication, my discipline, my sacrifices, my hard work; I’ve learned it all through sport. Sport has also taught me how to handle failure and success. It has taught me how to fight. It has made me unstoppable!”

The soundtrack, Da-Da-Ding by Gener8ion featuring American rapper Gizzle, turned the Cannes Gold Lion award winning commercial into an Internet music video phenomenon.

The commercial motivated 170 million views within 3 days after launching and initiated a youthful public and social media debate about the future of Chinese football. The debate was invigorated by enthusiastic praise for the current pool of rising young talent, and a groundswell of optimism about their perspectives.

Russia, The Middle East and Turkey

Nike and Weiden+Kennedy have created three films to commemorate International Women’s Day to target countries where young sportswomen enthusiasts face discouraging societal barriers of gender discrimination, and community pressure to adhere to the age-old traditions of their particular region.

Creative Directors Craig Williams and Al Merry have focused on each chosen region’s unique societal complexities with laudable human insight.

South Africa

Caster Semenya, the two-time Olympian and 18 gold medals middle-distance runner, has throughout her career been subjected to speculation about her natural levels of testosterone.

After a ‘gender testing’ process her eligibility for competing internationally was withdrawn in 2009, only to be reinstated again in 2010.

Semenya’s middle-distance running career however, is under threat again because of a new IAAF hyperandrogenism rule that is scheduled to become effective in November.

Once that happens, she will be confronted with having to decide whether to take medication to restrict her testosterone level, or move to competing in long distance events.