The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Know Your Audience …

So yesterday – on Linkedin – I found this posted on my feed …

Now putting aside the fact I no longer work at Wieden, the fact is that part of the reason WK is so special is because it doesn’t have an abundance of people who have – or want to have – an MBA.

Wieden is born from a desire to use creativity to do it’s fighting.

That ranks higher than absolutely everything and anything else.

Now I should point out that I am not suggesting someone with an MBA isn’t creative, however that qualification does mean you have a greater focus on business than creativity and that ultimately flies in the face of Wieden’s beliefs.

Of course WK are savvy at business and Mr W is most definitely a business guy.

However unlike many in the ‘commerce World’, they want to grow through creative excellence not ‘optimization’.

Which is why I found this ad so weird.

Has Willamette had a lot of Wieden people there before?

Or had a lot of interest from them?

Or is the reason they are offering such a huge financial incentive means they want them because it will benefit them as much as the student?

Even though a recent decision at WKSH means there are some people who – in my opinion – could do with some basic lessons in how to successfully build a business – the reality is this ad shows how little Willamette know, rather than how much.


20 Comments so far
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Maybe it’s more about therapy than an MBA.
They will call it the “post Campbell” effect.

Comment by DH

Also known as PTSD.

Comment by Bazza

its a mental illness no fucker can recover from.

Comment by andy@cynical-world.com

Your last paragraph is interesting. Care to elaborate?

Comment by DH

My guess is they reduced the vacation allowance.

Comment by John

Or increased it.

Comment by Bazza

Not more – or less – holidays. A decision of convenience, politics and arrogance that made me question the validity of everything I tried to do in my time there. And I want to point out I say this because I love Wieden rather than because I have any bitterness towards them. Though, to be fair, if you’re asking my opinion on certain individuals, then yeah – there’s a bit of bitterness there, ha.

Comment by Rob

fuck me, a bit of campbell bitchiness and yet i know youre holding back which is the ultimate compliment you can give to uncle dan. are you feeling bad for all the holidays and cash you took off the poor fucker?

Comment by andy@cynic

That is very sad to hear Robert.

Comment by George

That seems rather random, even for me.

Comment by Lee Hill

The best MBA in Oregon is a modest claim. As for creativity, I can refer you to innumerable financiers in various jails.

Comment by John

if it was a course on militia membership maybe, but a fucking mba. twats.

Comment by andy@cynical-world.com

Portland is becoming the centre of the Militia World. But then they do say ‘keep Portland weird’.

Comment by Rob

Wieden seems to be the opposite of what an MBA education values. Or I hope it is or all my love of that agency may have to be reconsidered.

Comment by Pete

you found this on your feed yesterday? you mean 2 months ago when you wrote this fucking thing.

Comment by andy@cynical-world.com

Yes. Damnit …

Comment by Rob

Isn’t that photo of Wieden’s top floor space?

Comment by Pete

I think business people realize that creativity is more valuable down the line than business accumen and want a piece of the pie before the rest. Businessmen want everything that money can buy even creativity. The trick is that this cannot be bought. 15k on a 100k MBA is fair but not an amazing deal. They’ll soon realize that paying WK peeps to join their course would be an even better deal I reckon.

Comment by Ronald

I don’t know if they do to be honest Ronald. Some do – yes – but many view creativity very skeptically, despite some of the things they hold up in high esteem being perfect examples of it. Of course, part of that is because addend has decided that creativity is almost uniformly linked to a communication expression – not a way of thinking – and so we end up being in opposition when so much of what we celebrate come from the same place.

Comment by Rob

Well said Robert.

Comment by Lee Hill




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