"Nothing new for us"
J. Walter Thompson is making a fresh commitment to creative ideas. At JWT+H+F, they're preaching to the choir.
Agencies J. Walter Thompson swears by new creative ideas. WW Worldwide CEO Bob Jeffreys has declared February 28, 2005 to be the "day of birth" of JWT. The oldest agency in the world wants to get rid of its service image and has committed itself to creativity. Is JWT+H+F also undergoing a creative reorientation? Remy Fabrikant We are happy that the network is finally realizing what we have been doing for years.
Andy Hostettler Remy and I actually have this way of thinking in our genes. We've been pursuing this concept since we had our own agency, and even before that at Weber Hodel Schmid.
More creative advertising equals more attention equals more sales and success, you write in a press release. Isn't this equation a little too
simple?
Hostettler We're not the first to say that. Three or four years ago, Y&R conducted a study based on the Brand Asset Valuator and compared it with Nielsen data from various clients. This proved that creative advertising sells better than average advertising. Take a look at what Procter & Gamble is doing: the company that stood for stupid advertising for around 30 years has been demanding that its agencies include their campaigns in the Gunn Report for two years now. They have realized that creative advertising can get you out of the swamp of mass communication and get people more involved.
Fabrikant One reason for the repositioning is that large network customers complained that the old advertising strategies were no longer working. There is a cultural difference between the USA and Switzerland. A large part of the advertising volume in America goes to television. In Switzerland, there is a diversity of media and countless channels from which advertising is pushed at consumers. Despite these inverse signs, our common basis is to discuss creative standards and develop them further, in whatever medium or with whatever mix. You have to be able to stand out from the mud. If you can do that, you have won the consumer's attention. Only then will you be in a position to convey a message.
All JWT agencies are now committed to the JWT Success Standard, which measures their success in ten levels from "detrimental" to "world-beating". Isn't this standard a bit simplistic?
Hostettler We absolutely stand behind these standards. They were not invented overnight, but were developed a long time ago.
Fabrikant Actually, that's not even JWT's idea. These are the so-called "Seven Pluses" invented by Michael Conrad from Leo Burnett. They are designed to help us make creation assessable, especially in discussions with customers.
Hostettler That's the most important point. We keep finding that everyone wants a creative campaign, but everyone understands it differently. That's why in future we want to incorporate the standards as soon as we receive the briefing: Can this brief enable a top creative campaign or not? We will use the standards as a yardstick and also encourage the client to measure us against them.
The German JWT has already drawn the consequences of the realignment and outsourced the controlling department to the network in order to be able to hire more creative people. Are you thinking of similar measures?
Hostettler In Germany, people go so far as to say that there are only creatives and producers at JWT. Producers are desktoppers, producers, accountants and so on. The creatives now also include consultants and strategists. We don't need to take this step: At JWT+H+F, everyone has been sitting at the same table for five years: strategists, creatives and consultants.
After 140 years, the agency has reduced its name to the initials of its founder. Will you miss J. Walter Thompson?
Hostettler Not at all. We already adopted it years ago. The only thing that has changed for us is the implementation of the logo.
Ideas for peopleFrom a service-oriented organization to a creative organism: this is CEO Bob Jeffrey's vision for JWT.
This is how Jeffrey defines the new agency point of view: "We need to ensure that more people spend more time with our clients' brands. We need to create ideas that people want to spend more time with. The better the idea is, the more time people will spend with it."
The new Success Standard (see image) and a quantitative-qualitative evaluation tool, which for the first time measures performance not only from a financial point of view, serve as aids. (sm)
The JWT Success Standard: the benchmark for creative quality.
Interview: Stefano Monachesi
Andy Hostettler Remy and I actually have this way of thinking in our genes. We've been pursuing this concept since we had our own agency, and even before that at Weber Hodel Schmid.
More creative advertising equals more attention equals more sales and success, you write in a press release. Isn't this equation a little too
simple?
Hostettler We're not the first to say that. Three or four years ago, Y&R conducted a study based on the Brand Asset Valuator and compared it with Nielsen data from various clients. This proved that creative advertising sells better than average advertising. Take a look at what Procter & Gamble is doing: the company that stood for stupid advertising for around 30 years has been demanding that its agencies include their campaigns in the Gunn Report for two years now. They have realized that creative advertising can get you out of the swamp of mass communication and get people more involved.
Fabrikant One reason for the repositioning is that large network customers complained that the old advertising strategies were no longer working. There is a cultural difference between the USA and Switzerland. A large part of the advertising volume in America goes to television. In Switzerland, there is a diversity of media and countless channels from which advertising is pushed at consumers. Despite these inverse signs, our common basis is to discuss creative standards and develop them further, in whatever medium or with whatever mix. You have to be able to stand out from the mud. If you can do that, you have won the consumer's attention. Only then will you be in a position to convey a message.
All JWT agencies are now committed to the JWT Success Standard, which measures their success in ten levels from "detrimental" to "world-beating". Isn't this standard a bit simplistic?
Hostettler We absolutely stand behind these standards. They were not invented overnight, but were developed a long time ago.
Fabrikant Actually, that's not even JWT's idea. These are the so-called "Seven Pluses" invented by Michael Conrad from Leo Burnett. They are designed to help us make creation assessable, especially in discussions with customers.
Hostettler That's the most important point. We keep finding that everyone wants a creative campaign, but everyone understands it differently. That's why in future we want to incorporate the standards as soon as we receive the briefing: Can this brief enable a top creative campaign or not? We will use the standards as a yardstick and also encourage the client to measure us against them.
The German JWT has already drawn the consequences of the realignment and outsourced the controlling department to the network in order to be able to hire more creative people. Are you thinking of similar measures?
Hostettler In Germany, people go so far as to say that there are only creatives and producers at JWT. Producers are desktoppers, producers, accountants and so on. The creatives now also include consultants and strategists. We don't need to take this step: At JWT+H+F, everyone has been sitting at the same table for five years: strategists, creatives and consultants.
After 140 years, the agency has reduced its name to the initials of its founder. Will you miss J. Walter Thompson?
Hostettler Not at all. We already adopted it years ago. The only thing that has changed for us is the implementation of the logo.
Ideas for peopleFrom a service-oriented organization to a creative organism: this is CEO Bob Jeffrey's vision for JWT.
This is how Jeffrey defines the new agency point of view: "We need to ensure that more people spend more time with our clients' brands. We need to create ideas that people want to spend more time with. The better the idea is, the more time people will spend with it."
The new Success Standard (see image) and a quantitative-qualitative evaluation tool, which for the first time measures performance not only from a financial point of view, serve as aids. (sm)
The JWT Success Standard: the benchmark for creative quality.
Interview: Stefano Monachesi
