Wieden + Kennedy's Success

So as many of you know, Wieden + Kennedy is one of the world's largest independently owned ad agencies and is responsible for the advertisements of many big name companies such as Nike, Facebook, Old Spice, P@G, Levi's and Coca-Cola.  The company is most well known for their long standing relationship with Nike which began back in 1980.  Nike was W+K's first major client and has contributed to a major part of their success.  This is W+K's most recent work with Nike...

Another video commercial that W+K did for Nike that I thought was clever was...

The company did their research and played off of everyone's excitement for Lebron and the Heat to finally win a ring.  They found something people took interest in and made an ad people could stand behind.

I think W+K has produced some great work.  Without their work with Nike, I wonder how the company would have taken off.  I would like to ask the telling questions...  Would W+K be one of the largest independently owned advertising agencies today if they never did work for Nike?  W+K have acquired many big name brands in the past, but is that because of their success with Nike?  Whether Nike played a big factor or not, W+K is one of the most prestigious and successful ad agencies today.  I really enjoy their work... As of now, I will continue to follow them and post about their work.