W+K Amsterdam Names Blake Harrop Managing Director

Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam is pleased to announce the appointment of Blake Harrop as the agency’s new Managing Director. Harrop joins Executive Creative Directors Eric Quennoy and Mark Bernath, and replaces Clay Mills who left to take up a new challenge in the United Kingdom. 

Harrop comes from the W+K Tokyo office, where he spent four years running the agency. He is credited with growing the business over the course of his tenure with the office being named Independent Agency of the Year in 2014 by Campaign Asia, along with creating widely respected work for Nike, Facebook and Ben & Jerry's. 

Prior to W+K, British-native Harrop was a Senior Vice President with Digitas in New York and worked client-side in Seoul as the Global Head of Interactive Marketing for Samsung. He also holds a BA in Japanese from the University of London and an MBA from INSEAD.

Dave Luhr, W+K President and Partner, says, “Our Amsterdam office has always been a global powerhouse and Blake's DNA makes him the perfect fit for the office. I don't know too many Managing Directors out there who have lived in every region of the world, speak five languages, have proven digital chops, is a Judo master and knows how to inspire creativity. I can't wait to see what our trio of Eric, Mark and Blake in Amsterdam will do." 

Blake Harrop says, “The worldliness of the work, the people and the clients at W+K Amsterdam is inspirational, and I'm thrilled to be joining the team. I've also been a fan of the work produced by the office for years, so I feel like Jack Nicholson if he was invited to play point guard for the Lakers.”

In addition to Harrop, W+K Amsterdam has further expanded their team this year with four hires, particularly within the agency’s interactive department. Jeff Lam, who previously freelanced at Argonaut, B-Reel and Deutsch LA and is known for creating the renowned EA Sports Madden Giferator, joins as an Art Director and Interactive Artist. Jeff is partnered with Jake Barnes, a Kiwi-native Copywriter who stayed on after seven successful months as part of The Kennedys, the agency’s in-house creative incubator program. Further expanding the interactive team is Creative Technologist Kees Plattel, a former Hyper Island graduate who has worked at B-Reel New York and MiniVegas Amsterdam, and John Filipe, a Film and Art Director who was also a former 2014 Kennedy.