Susan Hoffman’s career at Wieden + Kennedy is something to sing about.
Hoffman, who was employee No. 8 at the storied independent agency, and went on to create so much of its iconic work, particularly for Nike, was inducted into The One Club’s Creative Hall of Fame this week. And she got quite the introduction—feted with an original song about her, performed by the von Trapps, a quartet of singers who are the great-grandchildren of Captain and Maria von Trapp (whose story inspired the 1965 film The Sound of Music).
Check out the performance below, which includes an amusing scripted bit at the beginning with W+K’s Dave Luhr and Dan Wieden. (The singers were accompanied by Thomas Lauderdale, pianist for the band Pink Martini.)
Also have a look at Hoffman’s acceptance speech here:
The One Club’s other 2017 Creative Hall of Fame inductees were:
• Tom Burrell, founder of Burrell Communications, who started the first African American owned ad agency in 1971 and changed the face of American advertising by understanding and highlighting the positive aspects of black American culture, and transformed both the way people of color were portrayed in communications and their roles within the industry itself.
• David Lubars, CCO, BBDO Worldwide CCO and chairman of BBDO North America. The creative who revolutionized the industry with the first foray into branded entertainment with BMW Films and subsequently helped transform BBDO into the most creatively awarded in the world (recipient of more than 15 Agency of the Year recognitions).
• Artist/designer Rebeca Méndez, professor at UCLA, Design Media Arts, where she is director of the CounterForce Lab, a research and fieldwork studio.
• Diane Cook-Tench, founding director of the VCU Brandcenter (Virginia Commonwealth University’s grad school), who prior to teaching won more than 100 creative awards during her decade at The Martin Agency.
