LOS ANGELES, May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Ad agency WDCW (http://wdcw.com/) (formerly Wongdoody) announced today the hiring of Clyde McKendrick as Executive Strategy Director, based in the agency's Los Angeles office.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110524/LA08299)

McKendrick, who relocated to the U.S. from Britain last year, was formerly Group Planning Director for Pepsi at TBWA\Chiat\Day in L.A. While there, he led the strategy for Diet Pepsi and the 'Skinny' can, including the highly successful new Sofia Vergara/ David Beckham campaign. He developed the 2011 plans for the Pepsi Refresh Project and has been instrumental in brand strategy for the overall trademark planning by bringing cultural marketing expertise to business.

Prior to this, he founded The Open Consultancy in London, a lifestyle brand communications agency whose clients included Coca-Cola, VW, Red Bull, Diesel, Bombay Sapphire and Bacardi.

He also created and is editor of MILK (http://www.milkinsight.com), a cultural insight consultancy focused on youth and young adult consumers, providing progressive lifestyle brands innovations based on social influence and cultural strategy. Projects for MILK included the brand positioning and launch strategy for Stella Artois Black in the UK, the market leading premium beer owned by InBev. Through MILK's magazine, blog and twitter (@clydemckendrick) McKendrick shares thought leading perspectives on culture and strategic theory with a global network.

Ben Wiener, CEO at WDCW, said, "We're all thrilled to have Clyde join us at this exciting stage of our agency evolution. He brings an intuitive sense for building brands which is crucial to our vision of being an agency at the forefront of cultural innovation."

"I had an instant connection with Ben and Creative Director Court Crandall," added McKendrick. "We have the same shared ideals to build the 'cultural capital' of brands which is at the heart of what WDCW stands for. I look forward to producing great work for both our existing and future clients and being a part of the new WDCW team."

ABOUT WDCW

The WDCW (formerly Wongdoody) family of companies includes Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener (http://wdcw.com/), a full-service marketing-ideas agency, and United Future (http://www.unitedfuture.com/) a provider of marketing-critical Web and technology applications. From offices in Los Angeles and Seattle, WDCW builds cultural capital and provides strategic, creative and analytic services to such clients as Alaska Airlines, ESPN, Holland America Line, Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Western Digital.

SOURCE WDCW