WDCW: Karma Chameleon

Last year, leading independent Seattle shop WongDoody joined with LA’s Ground Zero to form Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener. Chairman Tracy Wong gives shots the lowdown on the deal and shares his philosophy for surviving both the multichannel market and reality TV.

When asked why WongDoody joined forces with LA-based Ground Zero to form Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener, chairman/ECD Tracy Wong couldn’t be more upfront: “Ground Zero was an independent shop that used to kick our ass,” he quips. “We’d find ourselves in the LA market competing against each other all the time, so it seemed like a sensible union.”

Wong formed WongDoody with partner Pat Doody back in the 90s, so deciding to join forces with Ground Zero’s Court Crandall and Ben Wiener was to the mutual creative benefit of all. As founder and creative partner at Ground Zero, Crandall was a respected figure in adland, creating memorable campaigns and picking up awards that include One Show Pencils and gold Cannes Lions.

Seattle resurgence

Wong himself has seen many changes afoot on the ad landscape in Seattle over the years. “Ten years ago, there were a lot of good independent shops and field offices – but they’re all gone now,” reflects Wong. “Agencies come and go and there seems to be a resurgence of late. We’ve managed to survive by becoming a chameleon, finding out what the vision for each assignment is and changing accordingly. That was the key behind forming WDCW, and I think the game for us has been to spread our net up and down the coast.”

With clients including Alaska Air, ESPN, Amazon, Mercury Insurance, CNBC, T-Mobile, Epson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wong is well-placed to comment on WDCD’s use of traditional adspend versus new-media avenues of delivery.

“The more things change the more they stay the same,” answers Wong. “If you have to deliver awareness, the traditional mass-media route still works best. Even with mobile and digital, the equation applies: if you want people to know your brand big-time, you’ve got to go wide.”

With the 2013 Super Bowl wrapped, Wong reflects that the event remains the perfect venue for big brands to reach out to consumers.

“I’m amazed at the lasting power of the TV commercial,” he continues. “It’s a passive experience, but in a good way because you’re relying on form and story to deepen the engagement. There’s hardly any interactivity but, boy, there’s no better way to reach an audience.”

However, beyond the cultural phenomenon that was Super Bowl XLVII, delivering sophisticated branding techniques remains top-of-mind for agencies such as WDCW. In a landscape of media fragmentation and product convergence, the challenge of finding context behind the logo becomes an increasingly difficult exercise.

Wong responds: “Every good agency needs to be a chameleon. Some shops are known for their style, but if you push your own brand on a client the vision won’t last. You need to honour the spirit of what’s suitable for the brand. The best play is to understand the client’s audience and shift your perspective to fit that demographic.”

Wong identifies Amazon Kindle and the recently acquired Scion account as clients who are pushing their adspend in new-media directions. As for finding the right fit in production to echo the creative on the page, Wong breaks it down succinctly: “You hire by seeing what the story is that you have to tell, and who are going be the best visual storytellers to express it,” he says. “We’ve worked with a lot of different people and, again, it depends on the budget. It all starts with a good idea. Great production values don’t buy anything if the story isn’t memorable.”

Cable exposure

Wong was recently featured on US cable channel AMC’s The Pitch, a show about top US ad agencies competing head-to-head to win a new client. Wong and his creative team were followed around for ten days as they were briefed by the client, went away to brainstorm, then returned to pitch their ideas against a rival agency.

“The issue was never winning or losing,” Wong recalls. “Our client was Subway, a good national assignment. Subway is, in essence, a conservative brand because it can afford to be: it outspends McDonald’s and is currently the biggest fast-food chain in the world, so it doesn’t need to do anything groundbreaking. The show was an interesting experience – but, in hindsight, I realise they were just looking for conflict,” he continues. “Where there is conflict there is drama, and with the egos in advertising they were simply looking for people to back-stab, get nippy. But our culture here at WDCW is egoless. Sure, everybody’s going to say that about their agency, but we all know what it’s like working at shops with back-stabbers and asshole bosses.”

While the media ‘boom’ has been a quandary for many agencies still connecting the dots, Wong continues to connect like-minded people around shared interests and causes at the agency. The recent addition of Ramon Vasquez springs to mind, arriving from Seattle-based Creature. His arrival should see the senior designer shaping strong brand art, illustration, typography, package design and creative direction to all agency clients.

As WDCW focuses on the multidisciplinary road ahead, one thing remains clear to Wong in regard to new media versus old: the story.

“The onslaught of technology and how things have changed is something we all deal with,” he says. “Whatever the form, a good story told well can never, ever be beaten. If you have anything to say, the technology really doesn’t matter; just stick a great story in their faces and reap the rewards!”