AOY 2nd Runner-Up Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam proved this year that while it can continue to innovate for the likes of Coke and Nike, it's also capable of launching a brand into unknown territory with panache. ECDs Mark Bernath and Eric Quennoy say the agencies tries " to provide a culture where people have the freedom to fail and thus the room to experiment".
Booking.com's Booking.yeah campaign saw the agency introduce the Priceline-owned accommodations site to the US travel market with a stylish first spot and a new, slightly dodgy-sounding catchphrase --"Booking.yeah" -- to add to the U.S. veernacular. The brand also proved it was truly engaged with an American audience at Halloween, with a truly chilling horror film-style campaign highlighting America's seven most haunted properties.
For Nike Turkey, the brief was to get Istanbul's sport-loving residents off the sidelines and engaged in exercise. W&K created the Human Printing Press; a printing press using the strength of athletes including footballer Didier Drogba. Directed by Honey Badger's James Frost, it includes a peloton of cyclists powering up the printer, while runners, a boxer, footballers, a skateboarder and basketball player work together to stamp, print, emboss and press the poster. The ad tied in with a social and digital campaign setting people a number of different fitness challenges.
The agency's successful "Legends" brand campaigns for Heineken continued with "Dropped", a branded content experiment on YouTube. Six episodes saw a series of young men dropped off in exotic locations around the world and having to make their way back using their wit and charm. The Legends campaign continues to win plaudits, picking up the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix at Cannes in 2013.
For Coke's global happiness project, the agency contributed "Roll Out Happiness" a Coke-bottled shape pop up park designed to bring a splash of green to a sterile, gray office park in Eastern Europe. Vending machines offered Coke, but in order to get it, people had to kick off their shoes.
W&K also contributed to its home city's vibrant creative scene with The Amsterdam Salon, a networking membership programme it set up for expats.
