After a year off the awards podium, Portland's Wieden + Kennedy has returned with a vengeance. Occupying the top two spaces on our Best of Year Top 10, the 20-year-old independent is again the pretty girl at the party who everyone wants a piece of. The agency's phenomenal success has many people wondering, 'How'd they do it?'

Though making a deal with the devil is a contract easily facilitated in New York, a pact with Nike is one of those things best taken care of in Portland, Oregon. And it's a contract with a far better return.

The year 2002 marked a watershed for W+K - and for Nike. Not only did the awards pour in, but the agency launched a new line for the sportswear massive this summer. According to W+K, the high-tech Presto street-wear line has already proven to be a colossal success within the coveted teenage and female demos. The ads themselves, rather than focusing on the product, featured the talents of urban cool kids engaging in unconventional feats of athleticism - which indubitably helped to pry open the wallets of consumers who might otherwise not touch Nike.

But then, it's the unconventional that W+K does best. And it's that avant-garde quality, according to creatives working at Wieden, which fosters creative excellence.

Creative development is usually one of those vague, contractual musings that gets lip service but rarely materializes as an investment in employees. But Dan Wieden is a leader who believes you get back what you put in. With interest.

Take what happened with copywriter Jimmy Smith. After pouring his soul into an animated series of spots for Nike that featured ski bunny Picabo Street as a character called Sister Slope, and music by punk doyenne Kim Gordon, the choosy client shot it down. In fact, much of 1999 was a bit of a flop for Smith. His efforts were repeatedly thwarted as he neared his breaking point. Wieden pulled Smith aside - suggesting that if Smith really wanted to make comic books, he should. But rather than firing him, or insisting that Smith take time off, Wieden offered to foot the bill for what was to become The Truth - a comic book detailing the misadventures of a black superhero in a futuristic race war. The creative sojourn was just what the illustrator/copywriter needed. Back at W+K, Smith went on to drive Nike's acclaimed "Freestyle" as well as "Rucker Park", "The Roswell Rayguns" and "Funk Ship".

Other employees have made similar professional departures. "Creative development is something the place does well," says Hal Curtis, a W+K creative director and seven-year vet. "One account guy wrote a book about dogs. Jimmy did The Truth. Other people have produced films, gone to school... it happens a lot here. If you get burned out on advertising, you can go produce content."

Curtis himself has had no small hand in the shop's 2002 success. As co-CD on both "Freestyle" and Nike's "Play" series, Curtis has conspired on some of the most memorable spots in recent commercial history. But he's circumspect about assigning credit to any one person - including himself. "To get great work, the most important thing is collaboration. Anything intruding on that is a bad thing. Being cloistered in your own world shields you from creative influence," he says, crediting the open concept of the office and the "chaotic" vibe as key to the shop's productivity. The building housing the agency has a purpose-built atrium for showing films, making it a cherry location for creative inspiration. "The building we're in is a cultural magnet," says 33-year-old creative director Carlos Bayala. "We've got Erik Johnson here working on stuff for MTV and [Japanese culture magazine] Giant Robot is here - and then there's the atrium where people do dance rehearsals."