Description: The JWT deposited Archive at HAT comprises material relating to its UK advertising activities. Mainly relates to 1922-2007.
Includes over 600 guard books (1920s-c.2000) containing advertising proofs, point of sale material, press cuttings and TV scripts 1920s-1990s. Also JWT London annual reports, yearbooks, videos, in-house publications and full scale models for commercials.
Level: Collection (Fonds)
Reference: JWT
Alt Ref No.: Hatrecord
Extent: c.80 linear metres
Agency: J Walter Thompson (JWT)
Related Material: HAT50: The J Walter Thompson (JWT),London, Advertising Agency Client Account Files and other office papers
HAT 21/181: The John Treasure Collection: John Treasure (1924-2004), managing director BMRB 1957, Director of Marketing & Research JWT London 1960, Chairman JWT London 1967 and Vice Chairman JWT Worldwide 1974. This collection includes JWT published reports and unpublished research manuscripts by Treasure and other authors.
HAT 21/326: The Joan Northover Collection: Artwork, photographs, posters and TV commercials reflecting the career of Joan Northover (1937 - ) including a period at JWT London 1967-1978 as a trainee production assistant to Roger Holland.
HAT 21/358: The Stephen King Papers: Stephen King (1931-2006) was a leading intellectual figure in the world of communications strategy, and brand planning. In 1964 he set up JWT's own Advertising Research Unit with a brief to develop and test new research techniques and provide a link with BMRB. The collection includes articles, publications, transcripts of his speeches, presentations and conference papers and correspondence. There is also a quantity of JWT-related internal papers and publications covering brand communication, strategy, market research and case studies.
HAT 21/492: The Patricia Mann Papers: Patricia Mann OBE (1937-2006) joined JWT as a secretary in 1959, evolving within the company into a successful copywriter for clients such as Kelloggs and Schweppes. In that year she became JWT's head of public affairs, becoming group director of external affairs and vice president international 1981-1997.In these roles, and as a long serving member of the Advertising Standards Authority (1973-1986 and its chairman in 1977), she took a rigorous view of standards in the interests of the consumer. She sat on various European Community committees e.g. European Advertising Tripartite, the Food Law Group and committees involved with children's advertising issues. She was editor of JWT's Consumer Affairs journal 1978-1998 and among her publications were 150 Careers in Advertising (1971) and Advertising and Marketing to Children (1980). A governor of HAT, it was Patricia Mann's knowledgeable overview and persuasive case that led to JWT London's decision to deposit its archive at HAT from 2004, thus ensuring that this remarkable collection of UK brand heritage remained in the UK for public access and study.
Although this collection is dominated by papers generated though Patricia Mann's European activities there is also some material that reflects administrative aspects of her career at JWT London.
HAT 21/493: The George Butler Archive: George Butler (1904-1999) joined JWT in 1925 becoming the agency's art director from 1932-1962. The collection includes art work, correspondence and photographs.
JWT's USA and other International Office records are held by the Hartman Centre for the Study of Advertising and Marketing at Duke University, North Carolina, USA. A note in 'Fifty in 40: The Unofficial History of JWT London, 1945-95' by T. Rayfield (p.443) records that some JWT London archives were destroyed in a fire at their storage company's warehouse in 1991.
Admin History: J. WALTER THOMPSON; JWT
History: 1878- , USA, London
JWT was founded in the USA in 1864 as Carlton and Smith, selling advertising space in religious journals. The
firm was later purchased by James Walter Thompson, who had worked his way up from being a book-keeping
clerk in the business, and re-named accordingly in 1878. A London sales office opened in London in 1899.
Under Thompson the innovation of placing advertisements in women’s magazines was successfully developed
and the company specialised in designing trademarks and packaging. Another new idea was the use of
testimonial advertising, with photographic portraits of royalty, socialites and famous female film stars in
advertisements for Pond’s face cream and Lux soap.
A Research Department was opened in 1915 hiring professional academics, such as the founder of behavioural
psychology John B Watson. JWT was the first agency to focus on in-depth market research for clients, combining
its results with medical and scientific findings and the analysis of the buying habits of selected families on a
"Consumer Panel".
In 1927, when General Motors Export Corporation became a client, offices were opened throughout Europe and
in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. From the 1930s the company introduced its US clients to
commercial radio advertising and the sponsorship of programmes. The success of these formats was repeated
on television from the 1950s.With the arrival of commercial television in Britain in 1955 JWT was the first UK
agency to have its own casting department and the first to persuade top film and TV directors to make commercials. J. Walter Thompson became a public corporation in 1969 and in 1980 was reorganized to form a new holding company, JWT Group Inc., with J. Walter Thompson as the largest of a number of subsidiaries including advertising, public relations, and marketing firms which Thompson had acquired during the 1970s. In December 1979 JWT purchased the Manchester agency Yeoward Taylor and Bonner marking its first venture into the regions: YTB became known as JWT Manchester. In 1987 JWT became the first publicly held agency to succumb to a hostile takeover when it was acquired by the WPP Group owned by Martin Sorrell. In 1997 its media department merged with that of Ogilvy & Mather in 1997 to create MindShare. In 2005 the agency officially shortened its name to JWT.
On 26 November 2018 WPP merged JWT with digital agency Wunderman to form the new Wunderman Thompson organisation. On 17 October 2023 WPP announced the merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R creating a new entity known as VML, described as the world’s largest creative company.