Beverage brand Yakult gave Wieden and Kennedy London $5M pounds in June 2006 to rebrand the brand as their AOR. Eighteen months later, the brand dropped the agency. Wieden was obviously upset posting on their blog that:
“But, to be honest, it’s not an opportunity, it’s a blow. It’s a bummer. It does not represent the dawning of a bold new era for W+K London.” And that, “It just shows how precarious this business is and that you can never get complacent.”
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Isn’t that the truth? The brand is a bit of a liar. At first, they told W+K that they were putting the rest of Europe into review. Then, they put the UK business up. They also then said that they would be “creating a small roster of pan-European agencies, delivering an overarching European creative strategy.” They followed that statement up with let big dawgs JWT, Lowe and EuroRSCG slugging it out for the win with the latter taking it home.
The recent print ads for Yakult have given some of the kids at W+K London pause on the Welcome to Optimism blog. Why? Because they look exactly like the work the shop was turning out while the brand was under its auspice. Take a look above. Take a look below. Hmmm….