insider: Wieden+Kennedy

Advertising agency Wieden Kennedy’s motto is, “the work comes first.” Which is obvious from their reputation and the industry accolades they receive each year. But, what has family got to do with it? Seemingly a whole lot.

• Wieden+Kennedy 
• Herengracht 258-266 
• 1016 BV Amsterdam
• www.wkamst.com

Due to a typical Amsterdam day that started with a thunderstorm early morning and cleared up to humid sunshine, I arrived at the office of Wieden+Kennedy wearing far too many layers. Cumbersome clothing aside, sunshine is far by the best weather  to see their glass office. I was ad-fangirl excited about having a look inside W+K and Account Exec turned PR Coordinator Andrea Dicu was kind enough to show me around and share their story.

When people talk about Wieden + Kennedy they often talk about the work – and rightly so. This was the least that Andrea and I spoke about.

First thing you see beyond the lobby is not work, but a wall filled with kooky framed photos of employees. Meaning also that before you see the employees, you see the employees (if you catch my drift). Over cappuccinos in their kitchen – which overlooks a garden shed converted to an art studio by CD Alvaro Sotomayor – Andrea filled me in on the W+K way. The Amsterdam office turned twenty this year (ten years junior to Portland) and has moved three times before settling the last five years on the well-known Herengracht. An office in Amsterdam? Just do it.

What I’ve really enjoyed in doing these insider visits is the surprising insights you learn, so excuse me if I use those words often. What surprised me about W+K is how the staff have acted differently to other Amsterdam advertising culture I’ve heard of. In a city where the airport is a fifteen minute train ride away for the next country stop in an ad career, employees at W+K…stay. Expats settle! Buy houses! Get married! Have kids!

People stick around for W+K, why go home when you have one here?

The family vibe is apparent when you walk around the office, I saw trophies casually strewn amongst filled book cases and remarked to Andrea how that was kind of refreshing to see. Seeing the appreciation of that she had to add a bathroom to the tour, in which you find the common place awards are stored. How’s that for putting things in perspective.

Another nice thing to see in 3D was The Kennedys set up. With an awesome neon-flashing-gif-filled website there was indeed a real sign in a workspace. For this, six young creatives are picked out of applicants (938 of them applied last year) to be here six months, on full throttle. They get the chance to work on local clients as well as boring ones like, eh… NIKE?  

With programs like The Kennedys, a building full with mixed experience and employees who work together outside of work (see Toby and Ignasi’s art installations) I got the feeling that maybe the work doesn’t come first, but the people.  

insider: Interbrand

Interbrand is one of the world’s largest brand consultancies. And Patrick Stal, well he’s 31, half German/half Dutch, and their youngest managing director. If you have branding loyalty, you’d love to talk to Patrick. And you might learn something, such as no matter how good a donkey looks, it will never be fast.

• Interbrand 
• Prof. W.H. Keesomlaan 4 
• 1183 DJ Amstelveen
• www.interbrand.com

To say I was nervous to speak to Patrick would be a slight understatement, regardless of that and armed with a notebook of questions I made my way to the Interbrand offices in Amstelveen. Admittedly my first time in this part of town, it was surprisingly the most nature I’d seen in a long while. I even sheltered under a tree while there was a brief shower. A tree!

Interbrand share a building with their Omnicom relative, DDB. This is immediately evident in the waiting lobby, where lions, pencils and VW advertising (oh my!) line the walls. I was excited to have a peek inside their doors, let alone to have some of Patrick’s time. And boy was it inspiring. Since joining the Amsterdam office in 2009 (which was then predominantly internationals), Patrick has made a mark (sorry, last branding pun, I swear) with his passion and drive. 

I’m going to start off and credit Patrick for having so much insight into Amsterdam and for sharing it with me. Amsterdam seems to house a branch of every big creative agency and was the place to set up shop for it’s liberal culture and talent pool. Now, rather than companies arriving for the talent, the talent comes here. How many design businesses are registered in Amsterdam alone? Oh, only about 3,000. 

So when people say the Dutch know their design, they know their design. This was particularly interesting in the case of clients in the branding area. With such an appreciation for good design it can be difficult to keep the scales balanced with strategy and is not without it’s faults. Patrick summed it up best.

…You create a logo for a car company which is a great looking donkey. The client loves it. “Yes, let’s go with that, it looks fantastic!” Unfortunately, after putting your good-looking donkey on your fancy car, nobody’s buying. They don’t get the feeling of how fast the car is, because donkeys (no matter how well designed) will never be fast. You know what’s fast? A jaguar… 

I mentioned to Patrick what I liked about Interbrand most is how absolutely freely they share their knowledge. On their website they have an entire section devoted to this. He told me that they always encourage sharing, and coincidentally, he had researched and found that Interbrand share five times more than other brand agencies.

I was reminded of that saying from school, “sharing is caring.” Nowadays, caring enough to share is becoming more and more evident.

Wolff Olins is an example, Wally of course had his Brand Book, however recently, WO are presenting their research under the Wolff Olins brand in Game Changers. All something to think about.

Which Interbrand Amsterdam clearly is. Despite having forty-two siblings in the wings, this office has a start-up atmosphere. With a mix of Dutch and internationals, they’re not just strategists and designers. It’s a staff of entrepreneurs. The change they’re making is fueled by passion. In Patrick’s case, he knew he didn’t want to sit behind a pile of reports, he wants to see change happen. And going by what he has accomplished, he must be doing something right.

Leaving the office I realised I hadn’t opened my notebook, perhaps insider into Interbrand is they share the answers before you even have to ask the questions. 

I must apologise for my cheesiness, that last line? Branding makes me goo goo. I’d like to say a huge thanks to Patrick and the great opportunity to look inside Interbrand.