Amsterdam Focus: Wieden+Kennedy

Approaching every new job as an ‘adventure’, Eric Quennoy and Mark Bernath, W+K Amsterdam’s expat ECDs, exhibit the same inspiring can-doism as the gung-ho heroes in their award-winning Heineken spots

When Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam received the call to say that its Legendary Making of The Date, for Heineken, had won the Film Grand Prix at Eurobest 2011, Eric Quennoy and Mark Bernath thought it was a hoax. So much so that the agency ended up calling the Festival back to double check it’d got its facts right before popping open the bubbly. Eventually, the executive creative directors came round to realising that it had, and they did. “It was a courageous decision from the judges,” states Quennoy, who in the film jokes that the spontaneous events were based on his own life experiences. “It just goes to show that every brief is an opportunity to do something great.”

The making of the making of

Featuring outtakes from the main spot, the three-and-a-half-minute piece parodies the typical ‘making of’ concept and fully demonstrates the main character’s ‘legendariness’, extending the illusion that he’s capable of pretty much anything. Some of the stunts he pulls off include fixing a neon light, juggling with knives and saving his date from a near-fatal blow on the dance floor. Even Sonny director Fredrik Bond is seen spinning a plate on his finger to add to the antics.

“They (creatives Hugo Van Woerden and Philip Brink) called it ‘The Legendary Faking of’ when they presented it to us because there’s quite a lot of stuff you’d normally find in a proper spot,” adds Bernath. “I like it every bit as much, and if not more in some ways, than the actual film.”

The work for The Date only tells half the story of the campaign’s success. The ‘legendary’ concept was first seen in a preceding Heineken TV spot that saw the same level of heroics. As well as their Write the Future, for Nike, claiming the Cannes Film Grand Prix last June, the ECDs’ The Entrance picked up a gold Lion.

True to the ‘Wiedenisms’ you’d expect to find at any of its global bases, the Amsterdam office has adopted its own identity in sync with its surroundings and multicultural roster. Last year, it launched The Dam Armada, an agency division focusing purely on digital products and, last December, it held the first graduation for its new apprenticeship scheme, The Kennedys. Both being expats (Bernath from the US and Quennoy from Australia) themselves, the ECDs believe that the city is an ideal place for young creatives to come and blossom: “They’re coming and seeing that the opportunities are here,” says Quennoy. “It’s so easy, everyone here speaks flawless English and culturally, it’s not a massive shock to the system.” Bernath adds: “It’s really good but you also have the challenge of hiring people who want to work hard, subscribe to the philosophy and aren’t just here for a European vacation to get high and hang out in the red-light district.”

The agency has certainly been on a high with a busy few years behind it, but where do you go from winning countless awards and creating one of the top campaigns of the year? Bernath jokes that people are probably lining up to chop them down now, but on a serious level, reveals that the next ‘adventure’ is already in the pipeline: “One of the challenges we’re investing in now is figuring out how to do the same level of work on a global scale,” says Bernath. “I’d argue that there haven’t been a lot of ideas on a global level that have been really successful or effective.” He refers to McCann’s American ROM campaign and Droga5’s Decode for Bing and Jay Z as being great for regional executions, but challenges their relevance in other parts of the globe, such as Shanghai or Munich, for example.

Having recently taken on an account with a telecommunications company in the Russian market, the pair is excited about the challenge of working in a place where more well-established brands, such as Nike, aren’t necessarily as well known as they are in the Western world.

Hi-tech get together

Last December, closer to home, the creative team was putting final touches on the second instalment of their Virtual Holiday Dinner. The online project saw clients and friends invited to share a festive ‘meal’ with them via Skype and this year Bernath and Quennoy introduced a conversational aspect, allowing guests to communicate through robotic dolls and face-tracking technology. For them, the future is clearly all about global conversations.

Having jumped back into the deep end with a guest speaking schedule for The One Club, the ECDs could be considered hard-working legends, like their Heineken ‘Man of the World’. “It’s a sickness, though, creativity… right?” muses Bernath, “it’s a disease that’s hard to turn off.”