“Welcoming. Forgiving. Funny”: The Creative World Remembers Dan Wieden
This weekend, the news broke that Dan Wieden, co-founder of Wieden+Kennedy, had died at the age of 77. His death comes almost a year after the passing of his collaborator, friend and Wieden+Kennedy co-founder, David Kennedy. Since the weekend, there was a collective outpouring from individuals and agencies inspired by all that Dan shared with the world.
The Oregon native would shape the industry, directly and indirectly, in countless ways. With Wieden+Kennedy, he created a creative greenhouse that would nurture iconic, transformative campaigns. It also propagated seedling talents who would, in turn, go off to share that special spirit in their own agencies and studios. But as a gardener of creativity, Dan also reached beyond the confines of the advertising industry - with Caldera Arts, he created an environment where underserved young people could connect with nature, make art and find their voices.
With Wieden+Kennedy, he and David turned that other Oregon local, Nike, into one of the world’s biggest brands - most famously and enduringly with the slogan ‘Just Do It’. And while he helped to turn Portland into a thriving agency scene, his influence spread right around the world. Wieden+Kennedy agencies brought that distinct creative flavour to cities as diverse as Shanghai, London, Delhi, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. And even those who have never passed through the doors of a W+K agency will cite Dan as a major inspiration.
As a tribute to that inspiration, several leaders from the international advertising community have shared their memories and reflections on just how Dan and his work made an impact on them. Some are former employees, some were business rivals and others are admirers who found themselves motivated by the man.
Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein
Co-founders, Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Rich and I used to invite famous creative people to the agency to talk to our department. This was very unusual. People told me the visitor would charm everyone and they’d all want to go work for that person. It was a risk we were willing to take. And I’m happy we did.
Sometime in the late ‘90s, I called Dan Wieden with such an offer. He said, “Really?” But dammit if he didn’t show up.
Of course, he was a major homerun deep into the stands. But he had this effect without mentioning a single piece of his agency’s work. He was…Dan. Welcoming. Forgiving. Funny. Telling hilarious stories about his people and their perspective on us. The room glowed for days.
And yes, people did leave here for there. But people also left there for here. It was bigger than all that.
I wish we could have him back again.
Sir John Hegarty
Co-founder of BBH, co-founder and creative director at The Garage Soho & The Business of Creativity
When legends go, the world pauses and reflects on their achievements. What they’ve built, inspired and changed. And so we will all do that, in our own way, on hearing the sad news of Dan’s passing. I was lucky enough to get to know him, share a platform with him and witness his kindness, creativity and humour.
We both started our agencies in 1982. BBH on March 29th. Wieden+Kennedy on April 1st. April Fool’s Day. Dan’s humour was embedded in the agency from day one. We were fierce rivals, but like with any rivalry, I felt we fed off each other’s achievements. Picasso needed Matisse, McEnroe Borg, Lennon McCartney, we needed Wieden’s. So thank you, Dan, for helping us be better. You may have gone but your work lives on.
Susan Credle
FCB global chair & global CCO
The first time I ever spoke to Dan Wieden, he said, “Susan, this is Dan Wieden. Would you like to join the Titanium Jury?” This would be an incredible memory except for the fact that I had slept through my alarm and was MIA in a heavy hitter jury room at Cannes.
BIG FAIL!
I did not detect any anger or frustration or disappointment in his voice. In fact, I could almost feel him smiling through the phone. A wicked smile. At the time I was unfamiliar with the W+K mantra, Fail Harder. And I don’t think Fail to Show Up had anything to do with Fail Harder. But Dan’s reaction did. I did not understand it until I started reading all the memories people have been sharing since Friday, September 30, 2022. Dan was compassionate and understanding when you were at your worst. I guess I received a little piece of that in France that morning.
Prior to meeting Dan, he sent each jury member a Zuni Bear Fetish with a turquoise heart line created by Bernard Laiwakete. The bear fetish provides healing and protection. I will look at this work of art and remember Dan. Because there is no doubt, he provided healing and protection for people, the work, our industry, and the world.
I encourage everyone to donate to Caldera Arts. It was an honour to listen to him speak about this special place: https://www.calderaarts.org/donate-1
Jose Miguel Sokoloff
President of Mullen Lowe Global Creative Council
I served on the Titanium jury in Cannes under Dan in 2013. It was the 60th anniversary and the jury president selection was a constellation of the brightest minds in our industry. Sitting on Dan’s jury was probably the most intimidating job for a Colombian creative who had only seen him in pictures and only knew him through his work.
He turned out to be the friendliest, most humble, and also the most demanding person in the room.
He emphasised that the friendships forged inside that jury room were going to last forever, even if we did not see each other again.
He was always taking notes in a Moleskine he carried with him everywhere, and when he was asked to put together a speech for the awards presentation, he went around the room and asked every one of us to contribute.
The morning after, he came into the room and read a draft from his notebook that he had written after listening to each of us. It was short, powerful, and managed to capture what was said in the room with breathtaking precision.
When he walked onstage the night of the award ceremony, he opened his notebook and read his speech exactly as he had read it to us the day before to roaring applause. It was a masterpiece of synthesis, power and meaning like everything he did.
Bruno Bertelli
Global CEO of Le Pub, global CCO of Publicis Worldwide and CCO of Publicis Groupe Italy
Dan Wieden was a brilliant and remarkable visionary. A creative genius who elevated the industry and nurtured talents by being fiercely independent. He believed in integrity and moved the public consciousness with his challenging and meaningful work. Dan used wittiness and light naughtiness, never forgetting about innovation and credibility. He was a true leader, a trailblazer. To me, he has been one of the people who made the advertising industry a good and honorable place. A rebel who didn’t accept compromise and stayed independent – who taught me that the paved way is not necessarily the right one and that ‘excellence is not a formula, or mathematics but it’s jazz’.
His work for Nike, Coca-Cola, Samsung and many more, are campaigns that will stay forever in the history of advertising. His genius and legacy is solidly anchored to the future generations as he has built a true culture.
Danielle Flagg
Executive creative director, Arts & Letters
It’s a funny thing in a time of social media, to think about how one can truly and righteously express the impact of a being like Dan Wieden. His creative fortitude was like its own Tweet to your face, in real time, sometimes with limited characters, making huge impact on you as a creative, or the client across the table. Sometimes it was a soft statement delivered with intention and love in his heart. Sometimes it was accompanied by an F-bomb and a hearty fist on a table with the glee of a child about how ‘F@*%-ing’ good an idea was. Most often, he delivered whatever his thoughts, with a subtle grin and a beam in his eye. Human to the core.
The not-knowing-what-was-going-to-happen when you were with Dan, was half of the ride. And it was a ride that always took you someplace unexpected - sometimes precipitous, sometimes ridiculous and sometimes powerfully emotional. He instilled this ‘comfort in the unknown’ in his people (whom he always said it was about, vs himself and David) and gave them the permission, confidence, and power to be audacious and provocative for all the right reasons. To chart unknown waters, make something that has never been seen or heard or felt before. And then break it, and make something else. Never be precious. Always be curious.
His heart, his passion, and spirit was always about something bigger than himself and he made that clear with his belief in the culture and the community. In the agency and outside. Asking always ‘what can we do better?’ The atrium in PDX (after Dekum) was built and intended as a place that would be charged with great discussion and interaction with the city of Portland, the culture outside brought in. Not the advertising world. Never be insular. Always venture out and expose yourself to new things.
Camp Caldera felt like one of the most powerful creative and human investments that he and Bonnie Wieden brought to light. All of us were invited to be a part of this. And before this, when I joined in 1996, he had encouraged people (aka you could use your work hours this way) to be a part of a reading program in Portland that would help young kids who needed help and attention, learn to read: SMART (Start Making A Reader Today). As a new employee and coming from many years of work in New York, I did this and it literally changed my life helping a young girl read for the first time and having permission to help her do that, through my job.
It is beyond impossible to encapsulate Dan Wieden in a few sentences.
Perhaps he would have appreciated haiku actually.
That pressure to deliver is too much.
I will send it to him in the skies :) and by way of butterfly.
