RIP JWT, Y&R & WUNDERMAN
Abhijeet Ray
Managing Director, Ethnicity Matters. Marketing and Advertising Professional with a specialization in Media, Strategy, PR, Branded Content, Sponsorship, Media Partnership and Multicultural Marketing. s
We have always known that accountants of agency holding companies were great at pursuing the only thing they truly understand - maximize Profits above Brand, People, Culture and Heritage.
However, when three great Agency brands - JWT, Y&R and Wunderman were wiped off the face of the earth a couple of days back in the name of efficiency, it left the entire industry reeling in horror. There was more than collateral damage to staff to speculate and gossip about.
As reported in Campaign UK, analysts at institutions such as Barclays and Bank of America among others have posed question marks around what the merger meant for restructuring charges. It was also mentioned that “cynics might ask: why now?” adding that VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson had lost “lots of accounts year-to-date,” including Pfizer, Beiersdorf, Uber and Kimberly-Clark. It’s not implausible that these losses have contributed to the idea of combining the two assets.”
Beyond reasons related to financial restructuring, how this impacts the tens of thousands of employees and their sense of identity, belongingness and motivation is much more than managing a efficiency narrative.
I had the good fortune of starting my advertising career at JWT in India and then went on to work for another WPP Agency brand Ogilvy. We know that they treated like universities of advertising and boast global alumni networks that can rival major business and marketing schools.
The industry is not reacting well to the news. Today's headlines in Brand Equity (a division of The Economic Times) a must read for industry pros reads: 'JWT Closure: Indian adland reacts with shock, sadness and anger'
Another one reads 'WPP killed three fabulous agency brands"
Since we are talking about 3 demises, here is another "Merged in Oblivion..."
Its ironic that the very agencies that have been responsible for building strong, enduring brands over the years and have very impressive track records of marketing achievement are discarded rather than re-invented for the new world of marcom.
If you are not wondering if VML that has been chosen as the new merged entity has any Brand Equity that is even a tiny fraction of the big agency brand names that have been eliminated, you are not alone.
Its a sad week for those of us who entered the business partly due to our love for legendry agency brands and what they represented and the opportunities they provided to build a career with. Its like some crazy accountant decided to destroy possibly hundreds of thousands of resumes as citing dead brands in your CV can be a very unsettling experience for both the candidate and the HR managers.
For the sake of all the employees of VML, we do wish them all well.
Lets hope they do not add an 'O' to VML in a few years from now!
Founder - High Impakt Media LLC.
10moIndeed sad to hear Abhijeet, my memories with JWT which used to be known at HTA (Hindustan Thompson Associates) in India, from the 1990's are indeed special, recall visiting their office as a student in college and used to be in awe of their beautiful offices (clients like Ford, Citi, Hindustan Unilever, etc.) in Madras (aka Chennai) and I still recall that was the first time I saw young women smoking:), but on a serious note this is really heartbreaking there is so much emotion in advertising and hard to just cut off such legacy global ad agencies.....indeed SAD!
A marketer's brain in a salesperson's body
10moYou might like this post on the evolution of the JWT, Y&R, Wunderman and VML names for some nostalgia. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/awmclaughlin_wpp-brand-timeline-activity-7120986984591839232-MZXJ/ If you had to keep 1 of the brands, which would it have been Abhijeet Ray?
Ethnic OTT & Digital Marketing | Multicultural Marketing | Ethnic Research
10moVery Sad.. Grey was support to change too but seems to still be around.
Marketing + Payments Technology
10moCan't believe this! Horrific! JWT was home to me.
Making Canada home for everyone - Bringing out your best!
10moBack in the day, when I was still living in a cave, I ventured out for my summer internship with JWT and my foundation years, this caveman’s first job with the group! Dust to dust they say! Beware the quiet accountant, while you dance the night away!