J. Walter Thompson

History

Pre-James Walter Thompson

J. Walter Thompson traces its origins to the Carlton & Smith agency, which opened its doors in 1864, one of the first known advertising agencies in the United States.{{cite web

The New York Times wrote that "the agency traces its roots to a newspaper space brokerage that began operation on December 5, 1864."

1868–1969

In 1868, Carlton hired James Walter Thompson as a bookkeeper. Eventually, Thompson found that soliciting and sales were much more profitable, and he became a very effective salesman for the small company.

In 1877, Thompson purchased the business of his employer for $500 and, a year later, purchased the office furniture for $800. He changed the company designation to J. Walter Thompson, as he felt that James Thompson was too common a name in New York. One of his first clients was a personal friend – Robert Wood Johnson, one of the three brothers who founded Johnson & Johnson – for whom Thomson personally wrote advertising for the toothpaste brand Zonweis.

Thompson, who had served as a U.S. Marine during the Civil War, had first been employed by Carlton & Smith to sell space in religious publications.{{cite web |access-date=August 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523160028/http://colab-sbx-140.oit.duke.edu/sites/timelines/jwt.php |archive-date=May 23, 2014 |url-status=dead

In 1896, the company incorporated.

More growth followed, and J. Walter Thompson became the first American agency to expand internationally with the opening of J. Walter Thompson London in 1899. The business subsequently expanded across the globe, being one of the first American agencies in Egypt, South Africa and Asia.

In a special 1964 commemorative issue celebrating the agency's centennial, Advertising Age wrote that the "history and expansion overseas" of the J. Walter Thompson Co. "seems peculiarly to match the whole history of modern advertising."

1969–2018

In 1969, J. Walter Thompson became a public corporation.

In the mid-1970s, J. Walter Thompson was hired by the military dictatorship of Chile, led by Augusto Pinochet, to "refurbish the image of the regime" after international and Chilean human-rights organizations had documented extensive violations.

In 1980, the company was organized into a holding company JWT Group, consisting of J. Walter Thompson Company; Hill & Knowlton; and Lord Geller Federico & Einstein.

In 1987, British media giant WPP acquired JWT Group.

In 2005, the company renamed itself as JWT.

As of 2014, its most longstanding clients included Unilever/Lever Brothers (109+ years); Mondelēz International/Kraft Foods (89+ years); Kimberly-Clark (84+ years); Nestlé (81+ years); Kellogg's (80+ years); and Ford Motor (67+ years).{{Cite news

JWT celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2014 by reverting to its "classic" J. Walter Thompson name.{{cite news

In 2015, JWT launched Colloquial, a content-marketing joint venture unit with Group SJR; Also in 2015, the company acquired a minority stake in Turkish independent digital agency Wanda Digital.

In 2016, the company acquired iStrategyLabs (ISL), a Washington, D.C.–based digital agency.

Merger with Wunderman

J. Walter Thompson Co. ceased its independent existence when holding company owner WPP announced in November, 2018 that it was merging the agency into the digital agency Wunderman. While called a merger of equals, observers note that it is really a takeover by Wunderman and an end to JWT, noting of the end of America's first ad agency that its "demise is a metaphor of the demise of Madison Avenue." At the time, the company was headquartered in New York City and had more than 200 offices in over 90 countries and employed over 12,000 marketing professionals.{{Cite web

Legacy

J. Walter Thompson was among the first agencies to employ writers and artists to create interesting advertisements for their clients, replacing the standard ads created by in-house departments. It was also the first agency to provide a wide range of advertising services to clients, including copy, layout, package design, trademark development and rudimentary, market research. Many of these methods can be seen in notable work that the agency has produced, including work for Kraft Cheese that resulted in the creation of the grilled-cheese sandwich, a campaign for Swift & Co. that added measurement marks to sticks of butter, the Toys "R" Us Kid slogan and jingle, De Beers diamond ads ("A Diamond is Forever") and the "I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener" campaign.

In 1908, the agency hired their first female copywriter, Helen Lansdowne Resor.{{cite web |access-date=August 29, 2015}}

In 1944, Ruth Fanshaw Waldo was appointed the first female vice president of the J. Walter Thompson Company, a position she held until her retirement in 1960. Waldo pioneered the use of Hollywood starlets' testimonials for Lux Soap, featuring actresses like Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson.

The New York Times reported that "some two million other documents ... (are) .. within the J. Walter Thompson Archives at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina."{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times

Criticism

In June 2018, then CEO, Gustavo Martinez officially parted ways with J. Walter Thompson (JWT) and parent company WPP two months after settling a sexual harassment case brought by a female colleague.

In May 2018 Jo Wallace, a creative director at the London branch, who identifies as a gay woman, stated at a Creative Equals conference that she would "obliterate JWT's reputation as an agency full of white, English, privileged, straight men". Five straight, white men queried this statement with the company's human resources department and were later fired. In July 2021, an employment tribunal decided that the men were unfairly dismissed, unlawfully victimised, discriminated against for being male and harassed.

Clients

Other significant clients have included:{{cite web

• 7-Eleven
• Ad Council
• Air Canada
• Air India
• Amnesty International
• Anheuser-Busch InBev
• Bayer
• Beecham Group
• Blockbuster LLC
• BMW
• Brisk
• BTS Skytrain
• Campari Group
• Cancer Council Australia
• Coca-Cola
• Comex Group
• DeBeers
• Diageo
• DirecTV
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Energy Star
• Ford
• H&R Block
• Häagen-Dazs
• HSBC
• Human Rights Watch
• ING Group
• Instituto Ayrton Senna
• Intel
• Johnson & Johnson
• Kellogg's
• Kemper
• Kimberly-Clark
• Kodak
• Kumho Tire
• Liggett & Myers
• Macy's
• Mad Catz Interactive SharkWire Online for Nintendo 64
• Mazda
• Meccano Ltd
• Merrill Lynch
• Microsoft
• Miller Brewing Company
• Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
• Mitsui Chemicals
• Mondelez International
• Morinaga Milk Industry
• Motorola
• Namco Hometek/Tekken 4
• Nestlé
• Newell Brands
• Nokia/Microsoft Mobile
• Northwell Health
• Northwestern Mutual
• Nova
• Nike
• Nikon
• Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
• PepsiCo
• Puma SE
• Qwest
• Rolex
• Royal Automobile Club of Australia
• Royal Caribbean
• Energizer/Schick
• Samsonite
• Samsung Electronics
• Saudi Telecom Company
• Schlitz
• Sears
• Sega
• Sprint
• Subaru
• Suntory
• Shell
• Tata
• The Secret Garden
• Tim Hortons
• Toys R Us
• Tribeca Film Festival
• Unicharm
• Unilever
• United Service Organizations
• United States Marine Corps
• USA Network
• Victim Support
• Volvo Cars
• Walmart

Distinctive ads

• Woodbury Soap, "A skin you love to touch" (1911){{cite web|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/ads/model.html
• JWT popularizes the grilled cheese sandwich for Kraft (1930)
• JWT sells Kellogg's Rice Krispies with "Snap, Crackle, and Pop" (1930)
• Introduced the first toilet advertising for Scott Paper (1931)
• Introduced Kraft Miracle Whip (1933)
• Produced the first-ever TV program for Libby, McNeill & Libby (1939)
• Ford, "There's a Ford in your future" (1945){{cite web |url=http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/login/1310284
• JWT creates "The Bologna Song" (1962){{cite web

|access-date=November 7, 2013

|archive-date=October 25, 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025191959/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=14983&keyword=thompson

|url-status=dead

• United States Marine Corps, "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." (1972)
• Have a Lark jingle based on William Tell (1960)
• JWT creates the Andrex Puppy. (1972)
• 7UP, "The Uncola" (1967)
• JWT uses Sarah Michelle Gellar in a controversial Burger King ad that criticized McDonald's (1981)
• JWT creates Toys "R" Us "I don't want to grow up" campaign (1982)
• JWT launches Ford Global Anthem (1999)
• JWT Thompson breaks the Guinness World Record for the world's largest billboard (2000)
• The Times of India, "Lead India"; wins a Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions festival (2008).
• Samsonite "Heaven and Hell"; JWT Shanghai wins a Grand Prix at Cannes (2011).
• Banco Popular, "The Most Popular Song"; JWT Puerto Rico wins the Grand Prix for PR at Cannes (2012){{cite web |url=http://www.canneslions.com/inspiration/past_grands_prix_advert.cfm?sub_channel_id=313 |title=Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, 'The Most Popular Song' | Inspiration | Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity |publisher=Canneslions.com |access-date=2013-11-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106021407/http://www.canneslions.com/inspiration/past_grands_prix_advert.cfm?sub_channel_id=313 |archive-date=November 6, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}
• Kit Kat, "Kit Kat into space" campaign by JWT London (2012)
• Kit Kat, "Android KitKat" (2014)
• Air India's Maharajah mascot (1940s)

References

References

1. (April 22, 2018). "Prominent Exit From Ad Industry Sets Off Questions About Future". [[The New York Times]].
2. "Group history". WPP plc.
3. (July 4, 2010). "Sir Martin Sorrell: advertising man who made the industry's biggest pitch". [[The Guardian]].
4. "WPP is merging JWT with Wunderman". Ad Age.
5. "WPP announces merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R, launching VML".
6. (April 14, 2011). "History of J&J by Margaret Gurowitz".
7. Applegate, E. (2012). Stanley B. Resor and the J. Walter Thompson Company: 1908-1961. In The rise of advertising in the United States: A history of innovation to 1960 (p. 134). Lanham: Scarecrow Press
8. "The J Walter Thompson (Jwt), London, Advertising Agency Client Account Files And Other Office Papers | Details". Hatads.org.uk.
9. Ciochetto, L. (2011). China. In Globalisation and advertising in emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China (p. 95). London: Routledge
10. (December 31, 2019). "J. Walter Thompson & Co. and the 1964 Advertising Age Commemorative Issue". American Marketing Association New York.
11. "J. Walter Thompson Company (part 2)".
12. Burbach, Roger. (2003). "The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice". Zed Books.
13. Perera, Victor. (1975-04-13). "Law and order in Chile". [[The New York Times]].
14. (1987-06-29). "NOW WPP FACES THE REAL CHALLENGE".
15. (June 9, 2015). "JWT and Group SJR launch content marketing unit Colloquial".
16. "J Walter Thompson acquires minority stake in Turkey shop Wanda Digital".
17. (August 2, 2016). "J. Walter Thompson Co. Snaps Up iStrategyLabs".
18. (November 26, 2018). "WPP is merging JWT with Wunderman". Ad Age.
19. (November 26, 2018). "Why WPP Is Merging Wunderman And JWT". Forbes.
20. (September 15, 2003). "J. Walter Thompson Co. | AdAge Encyclopedia of Advertising - Advertising Age". Adage.com.
21. (December 23, 2014). "Ad agency J. Walter Thompson, JWT, marks 150 years of iconic ads and catchy jingles". CBS News.
22. Flint, Peter B.. (1975-09-05). "RUTH WALDO DIES; EARLY AD WOMAN". The New York Times.
23. CURLAND, RICHARD. "Historically Speaking: Woman was advertising trailblazer".
24. (2018-06-12). "Former JWT Global CEO Finally Turfed After Sexual Harassment Court Case".
25. (June 7, 2018). "WPP Parts With Former JWT CEO Gustavo Martinez 2 Months After Settling Sexual Harassment Case".
26. (July 12, 2021). "What Led to JWT Being Sued by Its Creative Directors?".
27. Elliott, Stuart. (1997-06-17). "After 66 Years, Kodak Dismisses Thompson". The New York Times.
28. (2015-07-10). "Internet mysteries: Did JWT really invent the grilled cheese sandwich?".
29. (1988-10-09). "The Big New Pitch for Old Ads".
30. (2003-09-15). "Kraft Foods".
31. "1960s Lark Cigarettes "William Tell Overture" Commercial".
32. "Andrex lines up celebratory campaign as mascot puppy turns 40". Marketing Magazine.
33. (March 29, 1999). "Ad Age Advertising Century: Top 100 Advertising Campaigns | Special: The Advertising Century". Advertising Age.
34. N Shatrujeet, Jun 22, 2008, 12.17am IST. (June 22, 2008). "Now, Lead India wins Integrated Lion at Cannes". [[The Times of India]].
35. "JWT Shanghai's Samsonite 'Heaven and Hell' becomes The Gunn Report's most awarded print {{sic". Campaign Brief Asia.
36. Deol, Taran. (2020-09-12). "This Indian 'Maharajah' dressed up as Playboy waitress, sumo wrestler & many other avatars". Printline Media Private Limited.