LOS ANGELES When new Wieden + Kennedy creative director Chad Rea closed his own independent 86 the Onions here last year, it was not with any sense of disappointment with the industry but rather "a sense of accomplishment," he said.
The agency he started in 2002 to sate his passion for youth marketing had created some memorable work, including viral videos for Mountain Dew and ads for Starbucks, also a Wieden client.
The venture also left a legacy via EcoPop.com, an intellectual property company dedicated to environmental work that Rea will continue to operate, even while leading creative on Target at Wieden. In fact, he said one reason he looks forward to moving to Portland, Ore., where Wieden is based, is the city's green reputation.
Rea started his career in 1993 at The Richards Group in Dallas, and later worked in youth marketing on brands such as Dr. Martens and Hummer at the shop's Pyro division. That experience was useful because it "introduced an element of design" to the usual emphasis on copywriting and art direction, he said.
Rea's background also includes a stint at Mother in London (on Coke and Harvey Nichols, among others) and at KesselsKramer in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (on Ben mobile phones, Remy Cointreau and Diesel).
Rea said he's long admired Wieden's U.S. and foreign offices -- but is even more impressed after being at the shop since Aug. 5. "Now that I know what I know on the inside, having seen the wizard behind the curtain, it's even more important than what I'd thought," he said.
Having worked on some 130 brands, the cd summed up his approach with a lesson he learned at Richards: "[People] don't like advertising. I was one of those people whose BS meter is sensitive."
Rea said his goal at Wieden is to "create work people can love and interact with, so it is less about being talked to, as we imply when we talk about an 'audience,' and more about participation, about getting people involved in the communications."
Mark Fitzloff, ecd at Wieden, said he was "thrilled to have such an entrepreneurial, creative nonconformist" at the shop, calling it "a natural fit."
