Agency Report Card 2017: Wieden + Kennedy

2017 was the first full year in charge for Wieden + Kennedy’s new leadership team. In September 2016, Sidharth Loyal was appointed as MD and two ECDs in the form of Shuchi Thakur and Molona Wati Longchar joined the agency.

 

While W+K has a heritage across the world for great award winning creative work, its India office was lacking in this space. And that changed in 2017 as it bagged Gold and Bronze at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for Nike’s ‘Da Da Ding’. The entry also helped the agency win metals at Spikes Asia, Goafest, The One Show and the Effies.

 

 

 

During the year, one of the pillars for growth for the agency was taking multiple client projects in-house including films, where its creative teams wrote, shot, directed and edited those pieces of work. The agency’s hiring process changed as it looked for people outside of traditional agency set ups. It looked towards content producers from the print and journalism industry and teamed them up with its creative teams. 

 

The agency states that it comes at a premium and not all the clients initiating pitches can afford them on a retainer basis. This leads to clients that ‘value their thinking’ picking them on a project basis instead. 

 

But there were account wins in 2017 – Dalmia Cement, Hayward’s 5000 beer and Budweiser.

 

WKED The agency launched a new learning and training initiative called WKED to help all employees to learn new skills and refresh existing skill sets. Short for W+K Education, the program aimed to promote a culture of constant learning through in-office and outside office workshops for employees.