Neil Christie Reflects on 17 Years at W+K and the Musical Pitch That Led to an Iconic Ad

The agency exec joined his team in singing 'Grr,' an instant hit with Honda

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Wieden+Kennedy recently announced its London-based agency stalwart Neil Christie, most recently its director of growth markets, would leave after 17 years.

Don’t call it a retirement, the agency world veteran says. Christie is shifting to education to study literature at King’s College in London, saying he was looking to do something completely different: “I had zero interest in going to another agency.”

He spoke to Adweek about his career highlights—one of which proved surprisingly musical—and his plans for after his departure in June.

The decision to leave

“Anybody that knows me knows that it’s something that I’ve been passionate about for a long time, and like a lot of people I’ve been thinking over the last year of lockdown about what I wanted to do next,” he said.

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