Mark Wnek

Mark Wnek
Born	England
Residence	New York, United States
Occupation	Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Copywriter

Mark Wnek is of French and Polish descent but grew up in England. He was a pupil at Dulwich College, England, and he has an MA in Modern Languages and Sociology from the University of Cambridge. A prolific copywriter, he started his advertising career at Ogilvy & Mather in London, where he is credited for creating "the pure genius" line for draught Guinness and originated the Rutger Hauer campaign. At 27 he became the youngest member of the Ogilvy & Mather board in London.^[1]

When he moved to Lowe New York from London, the Guardian said that 'London advertising has lost one of its more colourful leading figures' ^[2] This undoubted truth was, in part, fuelled by what he once described as his greatest mistake and that he was "mortified" by that coverage - an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine. Describing himself as a 'life commando' didn't endear him to sections of the advertising community.^[3]

Mark Wnek is no longer the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Lowe New York, but during his 4½ year tenure there, Wnek and the staffs wound down the agency before a 2009 merger with Deutsch Inc.^[4][5][6] In 2011 Mark Wnek was the Creative Chief of PI&C which successfully pitched and won the Ruby Tuesday account. ^[7]

References

1. 'The Second coming'
2. 'Will Mark Wnek be the King of New York'
3. 'independent.co.uk My greatest mistake'
4. 'Lowe Lives: How an Agency Left Deathbed for Profits'
5. 'Advertising age article (paywall) - Lowe Lives: How an Agency Left Deathbed for Profits'
6. 'Deutsch Takes Over Lowe: Done Deal'
7. 'Ruby Tuesday Gets New Lead Shop PI&C scores via past connections'