Because W+K is an independently owned agency, it doesn’t have the luxuries, especially the bottomless pocketbooks, of the global conglomerates. What it does have, and what makes the agency a perfect fit for branching out into “branded content,” is its ingenuity and ability to take risks because of the lack of stockholders watching closely at every move the agency makes (Berger 2002).

When he first became interested in the idea, Wieden created an in-house entertainment division of his agency to “pursue projects that would be either funded by a client or produced by the agency itself” (Berger 2002). Shortly thereafter, W+K produced a book titled Cat Spelled Backwards Doesn’t Spell God: The dogs of Portland, which quickly “hit best-seller lists overseas” (Berger 2002).

After this first success, Wieden began developing other ideas to pair his clients with new media. Unfortunately, the only client willing to trust Wieden’s vision and risk financial loss was Nike, W+K’s cornerstone. With Nike, W+K partnered with Radical Media in 2001 to produce the Road to Paris, a documentary following Lance Armstrong’s race through the Tour de France, targeted specifically to cycling enthusiasts. In their Tokyo office, W+K experimented with music, commissioning original songs and music videos to be produced specifically for Nike advertisements. Because of the success and acceptance that W+K experienced with Nike music, they began working on launching their own record label to be debuted in the fall of 2003 (Berger 2002).

http://www.ciadvertising.org/sa/spring_03/382j/aclaire/Future.html