W+K PORTLAND

Spike Lee

 

Some days are more awesome than others. Yesterday was the kind of awesome where Spike Lee comes to the place that you work and talks about his career in film and advertising and his relationship with Wieden + Kennedy. That kind of awesome.

You may recall that we've done a few tv spots with him
in the past:

We were all lucky enough to sit down with Spike, Bill Davenport and Jim Riswold to hear about how their working relationship developed and evolved over the years.

Then the Spike was good enough to answer our questions about his work and his intense love for sports.

After the Q&A, we all pretty much swarmed him. Many hands were shook and photos taken. We all wanted a piece. Thanks again Mr. Spike Lee!

Hyper Island

This week, 65 lucky WK employees are attending 3-day classes taught by Hyper Island, the acclaimed  Digital Media school based in Sweden.

Hyper customized a curriculum for us based on interviews with employees beforehand. It’s special in many ways... Rarely do so many of us carve out time from our busy schedules to sit together and learn, debate, share and think.  But most importantly the classes will challenge us to become more deeply and creatively engaged in the fast-changing, tech-driven world. Skol! (that’s “cheers” in Swedish!)

15 years, 3,400,000 wildpostings and 11,000 sticks of butter later, Lonnie Winter retires.

Lonnie Winter, our fearless print producer and agency baker of everyones birthday wishes, retired today. Family, friends and the whole damn agency showed up to send her off with a hand tunnel, dancing cupcake, a facebook account and some tears.

But maybe Dan put it best. She’s the matriarch of the agency, here when we are bad, here when we’re really bad, and always there to give us a cookie and tell us it will be alright.

Lonnie, we love you and we wish you the world in your retirement!

Get Schooled

W+K is partnering with Schoolhouse Supplies, a local non-profit that collects and donates free school supplies to Portland area teachers to ensure all kids have access to the materials they need to participate and succeed in school. As part of the W+K Karma program, we had a supply drive this morning where the quad who donated the most supplies won an extra day of vacation. Volunteers are spending the afternoon today, sorting and stocking shelves with the recently donated school supplies.

Host with most Dan Sheniak started the judging.

 

CHEETAHS FOR LUNCH

Normally, you can find half a dozen or so dogs (and a giant tortoise) wandering around the agency. But on Friday, the atrium showcased an extremely rare king cheetah (note the stripes on the back) courtesy of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). Its entire body evolved for speed, the cheetah can run up to 70 mph. It’s also the only big cat that purrs. Everyone’s kids were invited to see the world’s fastest land animal and hear how to help save it, with a special appearance by Dr. Laurie Marker. Laurie’s an Oregonian who learned nothing was being done to save this endangered big cat, so she decided to do it herself. She moved to Namibia and started CCF in 1990. Since doing so, she’s been named a TIME magazine Hero for the Planet, as well as featured in lots of magazines, like Smithsonian. And this year, Dr. Marker won the Society of Woman Geographers Gold Medal. You may have never heard of that, but you've probably heard of past recipients like Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, Mary Leakey, and Jane Goodall. If you want to help or learn more, go to www.cheetah.org. If your dog is still missing, go to www.dogsareslowerthancheetahs.org.