It could be the allure of the historical city in which it’s based, but Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Amsterdam, carries a certain mystique that intrigues people.
"It’s kind of a mythical beast, even within the Wieden circle," says co-creative director Jon Matthews, who heads the office with co-creative director John Boiler. "People don’t know what goes on or how it works over here."
With a laugh, Boiler chimes in that this makes it easy for the team to steal people from W+K’s other offices—which, besides the headquarters in Portland, Ore., comprise branches in New York, London and Tokyo. "This, and the fact that there’s a copious supply of hallucinogenic drugs in town," adds Matthews.
Boiler joined the Amsterdam office seven years ago, following a stint at W+K’s Portland headquarters. Matthews came aboard in 1997, following a short period at New York-based Berlin, Wright & Cameron (now Berlin, Cameron & Partners), preceded by a stretch working at assorted shops in his native U.K., including BMP DDB, London.
The Amsterdam office’s production department serves as the hub of W+K’s European production, and is headed up by Donna Lamar. A former senior producer at the shop, Lamar was recently promoted to director of broadcast production, after her predecessor, Charles Wolford, left to become executive producer at bicoastal Satellite Films. "[Promoting Lamar] was the smartest thing we ever did," states Matthews.
While the creatives joke that easy access to drugs, sex and other cities in Europe is the reason why the agency has been able to attract its roughly 125 employees, the W+K reputation is a more tangible factor.
Since the office’s opening in ’92 to better service the advertising needs of Nike in Europe, the Amsterdam shop has established its reputation on its own merits. It made a splash with such high-profile Nike work as "Airport ’98," which marked the spot directing debut of action film helmer John Woo, repped through A Band Apart .35mm, Los Angeles. Starring the Brazilian soccer team, the ad featured highly choreographed soccer action in an airport, set to a lively samba.
"John Woo was amazing," recalls Boiler, who served as the spot’s art director. "Although I think the first day or two, the speed at which the production moved … knocked him off his feet a little bit."
Another of the shop’s best-known commercials is Nike’s "Good vs. Evil," directed by Tarsem of bicoastal/international @radical.media, which depicts an epic confrontation between soccer players and demons, set amid the ruins of Rome’s Coliseum. The ad was one of the spots that led to Tarsem being named the Directors Guild of America’s best commercial director of ’96.
Dynamic soccer action combined with the feel of a futuristic action/adventure film highlights another Tarsem-directed Nike spot: "The Mission." In it, some of the sport’s top players form an elite squad and battle an army of ninja soccer players to rescue a stolen prototype soccer ball.
Besides its biggest account, Nike (seven of the 12 creative teams at the shop work on this one), other clients include the Coca-Cola company; Doshka, a range of toiletry products from Renova; and Hypo Vereinsbank, the second largest bank in Germany and the largest real estate financier in Europe.
Not Just Sport
W+K has done equally creative work for its European clients. Two years ago, the agency was given the task of creating a launch campaign for Hypo Vereinsbank (the result of a merger between two Bavarian banks). For W+K, it was a radical departure from more familiar subject matter. "We pitched for this German bank, which worried us a little bit because, first, they were German and, second, they were a bank, and you figured maybe they didn’t want to do great work," relates Matthews. "But they were a fantastic client."
The problem, Matthews adds, was that all German banks were perceived as being arrogant and condescending. To counter that, W+K conceived the tagline, "You live. We’ll take care of the details." Rupert Sanders and Tony Kaye of Tony Kaye and Partners (now Tony K.), London, directed the three-minute introductory spot, "Money." Sanders is now repped stateside by bicoastal Omaha Pictures, and in the U.K. by London-based Outsider.
The ad consists of vignettes of people in everyday situations as a voiceover delivers copy exploring people’s relationship with money, and questioning why banks aren’t doing more to help people deal with their financial concerns. Lines include, "No bank in the world can make me rich—only I can make me rich," and "We spend half our life earning it and the other half worrying about it." After commenting on other spots for financial institutions, which show yachts and big homes, and rejecting them as unrealistic, the VO concludes with the plea, "Just tell me how you can help me worry less about money." The spot debuted on Sept. 1, 1998, at 7:45 p.m., on all German TV channels.
The creatives say they work very closely with directors on projects. (As Matthews puts it, "They get the left leg of the trousers, and we get the right one.") And, true to the W+K reputation, they aren’t afraid to use talent outside the commercial world, unless the production calls for an experienced spot director.
Earlier this year, W+K tapped New York-based British director James Marsh to helm an Audi spot called "More from Less," which was filmed in Barcelona, Bangkok, and Las Vegas, and produced by @radical.media. It was the first commercial for Marsh, a filmmaker whose most recent directorial credit is Wisconsin Death Trip. (W+K no longer works with Audi.)
The agency’s TV commercial output is not heavy as compared with that of the Portland office. Boiler estimates they produced around 20 spots last year, although if one factors in the versions for different markets, the total ends up in the hundreds. Boiler explains that the shop seldom does complete recuts of a spot; sometimes it’s a matter of subtitling, retitling or redubbing.
W+K will also occasionally create and produce country-specific spots. "Around Nike, we’ll do spots just within a given country," relates Boiler. "We’ll take some local thing that happened and go shoot a commercial on the cheap."
European
Influence
The nature of the advertising in Europe differs from that produced stateside. For example, Nike rarely sets out to establish itself as an American brand in Europe, and will typically use European athletes—mostly soccer players—in its ads, says Matthews. And, Boiler observes, whereas U.S. cultural trends can be reflected in stateside commercials, a current phenomenon in Italy may not be understood by German viewers. "There are some cultural universals" he adds, "but they’re just not the same as in the U.S."
Asked about the differences between the Amsterdam and Portland offices, Boiler says that he observes a rich design culture and heritage in the Amsterdam shop. Another point of difference is the multicultural mix of staffers representing 14 nationalities, among them: Australian, Danish, Spanish, German, French, English and American. "It’s a huge melting pot," observes Matthews.
"It’s a little more chaotic [in Portland]. There’s a lot of noise and frenetic energy," assesses Boiler. "Here, people are quieter—the chaos lives, but it lives more in the work."
Matthews interjects, "We’ve just got better table manners."Û
