Two ex-Wieden+Kennedy global creative directors, Ryan O’Rourke and Alberto Ponte, and former W+K global media director Dan Sheniak, who ran the Nike global business for nearly two decades, have teamed to launch their own agency, Someplace.
The new venture aspires to break new creative ground, according to its chief creative officer, O’Rourke. “We would never close our doors to an opportunity just because it doesn’t fall within the traditional rules of advertising. In fact, it would be our dream to be able to expand outside of what’s expected of a ‘typical’ creative agency. We’re here to create a space where any level of creativity can happen and there is no idea too big or too small.”
O’Rourke, fellow CCO Ponte and chief media officer Sheniak founded Someplace because of their penchant for storytelling. At Wieden+Kennedy, the three were part of the team responsible for conceptualizing iconic award-winning work for the Nike brand.
Their most notable previous Nike work includes global campaigns like “Find Your Greatness” for the 2012 Olympics, athlete launches such as LeBron James “Rise & Together,”Kobe Bryant’s “Black Mamba Movie” and the inspiring Serena Williams “You Can’t Stop Sisters.” O’Rourke, Ponte and Sheniak’s productions include global World Cup campaigns like “Risk Everything” and even iconic campaigns such as “Crazy Dreams/Just Do It” and “You Can’t Stop Sport.” The team has won accolades from leading industry and global award shows including multiple Titanium Cannes Lions, a One Show Penta Pencil, multiple D&AD wood pencils and two Emmys.
The new agency will offer a range of services like brand and creative strategy, brand identity and design, creative development, production as well as media and communications strategy.
“All three of us grew up fostering a deep love of storytelling, like any other person who gets into this industry,” said Sheniak. “The difference for us is that we’re building an agency at the crosshairs of powerful creativity and media, putting the right creative in the right places. That precision at the core of our storytelling makes all the difference for our business and our clients.”
Ponte added, “We’ve built a powerful network of collaborators and partners and understand how to shape and integrate our capabilities based on what our clients want to create. We hope to become a beacon and place where people can discover how to tell their story in the best way.”
The team has already started working with a diverse group of clients ranging in scale from sports apparel, fashion and accessories to technology, and is continuing to build a client roster of brands who dream of not only brand relevance, but creating a unique place for themselves in the modern media world.
Effie UK and Ipsos Report Concludes Marketing Industry Should Do Its Part To Heal Societal Divisions
Society has never been more divided, according to a new report Healing the Divide in which Effie UK and brand and advertising experts from Ipsos explored brands’ role in shaping society and healing societal divisions.
The report details how instability, inflation, and COVID recovery —the convergence of multiple interconnected crises around the world that coincide with and amplify each other, causing hard to resolve systemic challenges, have become the norm over the past few years. As a result, the use of division as a weapon is now a major theme in today’s culture and politics, and sadly 47% of the UK and 49% of the US agree with the statement that “Within my lifetime, society in my country will break down,” according to Ipsos Global Trends 2024.
While some brands have tried to respond to this, the report finds responsible marketing is now threatened by weaponized division. It points to the World Federation of Advertisers’ decision to shut down the Global Alliance for Responsible Media following an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X, combined with DEI rollbacks, as significant setbacks.
The report says these setbacks underline the importance of marketing in solving collective problems, such as climate change, food security, and harmful online content. It also points to a need for marketers to take more interest in and more responsibility for healing divisions.
Research claims marketers are ideally placed to build and rebuild the antidote to division (trust, empathy, a sense of control, connection and collaboration). According to the Ipsos Veracity index of trusted professionals, society is becoming more trustworthy of advertising executives. Additionally, 57% of Britons agree that brands should communicate their... Read More