Description: Comprises 16 British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) research reports (including a series of ACCESS reports) and one independent report prepared for the Decimal Currency Board by P.Wright and K. Fox.
Level: Sub-series
Reference: HAT50/1/45
Alt Ref No.: Hatrecord
Extent: 17 items (1 box)
Agency: J Walter Thompson (JWT), London
Advertiser / Client: Decimal Currency Board
Related Material: See also John Lindesay-Bethune's Decimal Currency Board client files (HAT50/2/1/7). For JWT London's own range of booklets on the decimal currency issue see 'Booklets' guardbook in the HAT/JWT deposited archive.
Admin History: JWT's internal 'Fortyfare' shop was used for a month-long decimal currency experiment in May 1967, organised by David Dunbar of JWT's Marketing Information department. The object was to find out the problems involved for users and staff. It attracted much press and TV publicity and was visited by the Chancellor, James Callaghan. At the end of 1967 JWT was appointed to handle the advertising for the recently set up Decimal Currency Board and this was the first Government campaign for the agency since 1953. In 1970 all staff in JWT were given a short course in decimal currency in preparation for the launch in February 1971.
Some BMRB ACCESS reports are included in this sub-series: 'During the 1960s the Advertising Planning Index (API) became BMRB's main 'branded' product...Other continuous research services arising from, or linked to, the API towards the end of the 1960s included the Continuous Consumer Survey (CCS), which focussed on image measurements of fmcg brands among over 100,000 people each year; and also ACCESS ('A Continuous Consumer Survey Service'). The latter was BMRB's version of the traditional omnibus survey: despite entering a highly competitive market it was second in its field two years after its launch in 1968 (information from 'BMRB International: The First Sixty Years, 1933-1993')'.