Just Do It — Keynote Dan Wieden Brings His Creative Wisdom and Wiedenisms To SSTI's Conference

SSTI is honored to welcome advertising legend Dan Wieden, co-founder+global executive director of Wieden+Kennedy and the man behind the "Just Do It" slogan as the keynote speaker for SSTI's 2013 Annual Conference being held in Portland, OR, September 15-17.

Dan Wieden grew up in Portland, graduated from the University of Oregon and worked briefly in public relations before trying his hand at copywriting. In retrospect, it wasn't such a bad career move.

Dan quickly found himself at a local agency working with his creative partner, David Kennedy, on a regional sneaker account. When the agency—client relationship began to sour, Dan and David seized the moment, scraping together $500 apiece to open their own shop, (fittingly) on April Fools' Day, 1982. They took the upstart sneaker company, called Nike, with them.

Three decades later, the agency that started with five employees and a shared pay phone down the hall has offices in Portland, New York City, London, Amsterdam, Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo and São Paulo and nearly 1,200 employees around the world. Under Dan's leadership, the agency has grown to be a global brand in its own right, operating 24 hours a day in dozens of languages on projects as varied as branding international companies, running an experimental advertising school, producing documentaries and TV series and even incubating technology start-ups.

As nice as the growth has been, Dan's motivation has always been to create a different type of advertising agency, a place “where people can do the best work of their lives.” Dan threw out the structure and bureaucracy that plague larger agencies in favor of a chaos theory that puts the work first and empowers anyone to come to the table with a great idea.

Clearly, something is working. In 2012 Wieden+Kennedy was named both Independent Agency and Agency of the Year at Cannes, and Dan himself was awarded the Cannes Lion of St. Martin for his lifetime of achievement, further proof that Dan's vision of an independent, creatively led agency can make meaningful, challenging work for its clients–and that it can be profitable. Over the past six years W+K's annual capitalized billings rose 75%, from $1.6 billion to $2.8 billion, working with a diverse client base comprising some of the world's most recognizable brands, including Coca-Cola, Chrysler, Delta Air Lines, ESPN, Facebook, Heineken, Honda, Kraft, Levi's, Nike, Old Spice and Procter & Gamble.

If he hasn't made your must-see list yet, check out the interview below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgfqys_pkAo

Register today to see Dan live and in person! Amazing early registration prices are available until June 15.