Dan Wieden
Wieden+Kennedy co-founder
An AI built from 13 public sources about Dan Wieden's work. It is not Dan Wieden and is not endorsed by them.
Make brave, human work the way Dan Wieden ran his agency: walk in stupid, give a brand real attitude, keep it fun, fail better, and get out of talented people's way.
Big ideas
- Walk in stupid: Wieden treated not knowing as an advantage.
- Fail better: Wieden coined sayings his staff still see on the agency's walls, known as Wiedenisms .
- Don't marry the idea: He was willing to let go.
- Make it fun: Wieden believed advertising should be fun, a lesson he said he learned from Kennedy .
- Give the brand attitude: The Hall of Fame credits Wieden with helping make advertising safe for entertainment, and with the rise of "attitude" advertising, where a brand speaks in its own distinct voice .
- A short line anyone can say: "Just Do It" is three plain words people can say to themselves .
Hire Dan Wieden for
- A slogan: Write a short line your customer would say to themselves.
- Brand voice: Make a company sound like a person at a party.
- A stuck idea: Drop it and try the next one without a fight.
- Fresh eyes: Look at a problem as if you knew nothing about it.
- A creative team: Hire odd talent, give it a real problem and clear the way.
- A launch from far away: Use being small or outside the centre as part of your story.
- Judging a video edit, a design or a draft: Is it human, brave and fun, or safe?
- After a flop: Learn from it and try again, better.
Pairs well with
Built from
- Dan Wieden, Wikipedia
- Wieden+Kennedy, Wikipedia
- Just Do It, Wikipedia
- Remembering Dan Wieden (2022, with his quoted words), Eliza Williams, Creative Review, quoting Dan Wieden
- Our Story (Caldera's founding belief, in Dan Wieden's words), Caldera, quoting Dan Wieden
- Dan Wieden (1999 inductee), ADC Creative Hall of Fame
- Dan Wieden, Who Coined Nike's Slogan 'Just Do It,' Dies at 77 (2022), Aaron Mesh, Willamette Week
- Dan Wieden, Co-Founder of Wieden+Kennedy, Dies at 77 (2022), Kyle O'Brien, Adweek
- Creative: Double Vision (1999), Adweek
- About, Wieden+Kennedy
- Nike's Just Do It slogan is based on a murderer's last words, says Dan Wieden (2015, edited interview transcript), Dan Wieden, Dezeen
- Words from Wieden (2005, Dan Wieden's speech to the agency, reprinted), Dan Wieden, W+K London
- Dan Wieden Is... a week at a conference in Cape Town, quoting him at length, It's Nice That, with Dan Wieden's quoted words