Wieden+Kennedy Co-Founder Dan Wieden Passes Away At Age 77
Beloved adman Dan Wieden in 2014. Image via Sam Beebe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Advertising great Dan Wieden of Wieden+Kennedy fame passed away on Friday, September 30, 2022, at the age of 77. According to his agency (via Ad Age), his wife was by his bedside as he died peacefully.
It was Wieden who coined the ‘Just Do It’ tagline of fellow Oregon native Nike, who followed him and his late partner David Kennedy when they left McCann-Erickson to start their own advertising agency. Wieden+Kennedy, founded on April Fool’s Day in 1982, would grow to become one of the most prominent names in the advertising world.
Wieden never officially retired, though he’d begun assuming a more passive role toward management duties about a decade ago. His death comes nearly a year after that of his business significant other and other half of the Wieden+Kennedy name; Kennedy passed away at age 82 on October 10, 2021.
Dan Wieden, March 6, 1945-September 30, 2022.
— Wieden+Kennedy (@WiedenKennedy) October 1, 2022
Thank you Dan, for throwing the doors wide open for people to live up to their full potential.
We will miss you so much. â¤ï¸ pic.twitter.com/SyPfYP5KeL
Wieden and Kennedy were two faces of the same coin. While they shared a love of advertising, their personalities both contrasted with and balanced out each other’s. As per The One Club, “Dan was voluble where David was contemplative. Dan was wild, David disciplined.”
The profile also noted that Wieden was “always seeking the untried and unknown,” an aspect most apparent in his pitch to make ‘Just Do It’ a thing.
The famous words are, in fact, famous last words of convicted killer Gary Mark Gilmore, who murdered a gas station worker, and a motel manager a day later. Gilmore drew international attention for demanding a death sentence for his crimes.
Considering the phrase’s grim origin, Nike understandably abhorred Wieden’s suggestion, with Nike co-founder Phil Knight arguing, “We don’t need that s**t.”
Wieden, however, felt that the Nike campaign needed to embody the same determination and intention in Gilmore’s words, and convinced the company to trust him on his vision.
Photo 249024906 © David Taljat | Dreamstime.com
Today, Wieden+Kennedy is one of the most recognized independent creative agencies in the world, with McDonald’s and Ford being among some of its other notable clients. It has eight offices worldwide and 1,500 people in its employment.
Dan Wieden is survived by his wife Priscilla, along with his four children, three stepchildren, brother, sister, and 12 grandchildren.
His loved ones ask that respects be paid through gifts to Caldera Arts, a nonprofit arts mentorship residency launched by Wieden and his family.
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[via Ad Age and Oregon Live, images via various sources]
