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Wunderman Thompson was a
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
–based global
marketing communications Marketing communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
agency with 200 offices in 90 markets. It was part of international advertising group
WPP Group WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It is the world's largest advertising company, as of 2023. WPP plc owns many companie ...
(). Wunderman Thompson was formed in 2018, when parent WPP merged agencies J. Walter Thompson and
Wunderman Wunderman was a New York City-based global digital agency. It was part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of international advertising group WPP Group (). On November 26, 2018, WPP announced it was merging Wunderman with ad agency J. Walt ...
. On 17th October 2023, WPP announced the merger of Wunderman Thompson and
VMLY&R VMLY&R was an American marketing and Marketing communications, communications company specializing in advertising, Digital media, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the 2020 mer ...
into a new agency
VML VML may refer to: * Varnish microlamination, a dating methodology * Vastus medialis longus, the muscle * Vector Markup Language, an obsolete XML-based file format for two-dimensional vector graphics * Veturimiesten liitto, a trade union represen ...
. On January 01, 2024, Wunderman Thompson ceased to exist.


History


J. Walter Thompson

J. Walter Thompson was founded in 1864 by
James Walter Thompson James Walter Thompson (October 28, 1847 – October 16, 1928) was the founder of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and a pioneer of many advertising techniques. Biography He was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on October 28, 1847. I ...
and traces its origins to the Carlton & Smith agency, one of the first known advertising agencies in the United States. J. Walter Thompson was acquired by WPP in 1987.


Wunderman

In 1958, direct marketer Lester Wunderman, alongside his brother Irving Wunderman, and colleagues Ed Ricotta and Harry Kline, opened Wunderman, Ricotta & Klein (WRK). Founder Lester Wunderman is widely considered to be the creator of modern-day
Direct Marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a Target market, pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response ...
—a term he first used in 1961. In 2000, the firm became part of WPP's $5.7B acquisition of parent
Young and Rubicam VMLY&R was an American marketing and Marketing communications, communications company specializing in advertising, Digital media, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the 2020 mer ...
. In 2013, WPP acquired the ecommerce consultancy Salmon. In 2019, WPP acquired the ecommerce agency CSP Commerce.


Post merger (2019present)

In 2018, WPP merged Wunderman with J. Walter Thompson Co., and in the first quarter of 2019, unveiled its new identity as Wunderman Thompson. Wunderman CEO Mel Edwards was named Global CEO of the new entity. In March 2019, WPP merged its agencies POSSIBLE and Cole & Weber with Wunderman Thompson. In December 2020, the agency launched a global brand study called "Inspiring Growth", which ranked the most inspiring brands in the world. In June 2021, Wunderman Thompson won the Innovation Lions Grand Prix at the 2021-2022
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...
for Degree Inclusive deodorant. In September, the agency expanded its global brand study with research on the role of inspiration in people's lives. In January 2022, Wunderman Thompson launched a virtual reality
metaverse The metaverse is a loosely defined term referring to virtual worlds in which users represented by avatars interact, usually in 3D and focused on social and economic connection. The term ''metaverse'' originated in the 1992 science fiction ...
at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show, showing how virtual and physical worlds can converge. In July, the company's Wunderman Thompson Health division created a smallpox simulator for smallpox medication maker Meridian, to help governments plan for future infectious disease outbreaks.


Notable clients

The company's notable clients include financial company
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
,
Rolex Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...
,
Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
,
Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States–based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is among the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...
, the
US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...
,
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...
,
British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...
,
Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...
and
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...
.


Notable campaigns

Some of the agency's notable campaigns include: * Bose's noise cancelling headphones during quarantine *
Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...
's social distancing Whopper *The
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...
's (ICRC) custom gaming mode with video game
Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: '' Fortnite Battle Roy ...
*"Snap out of it" and "Have a Bite" for Nestlé's
KitKat Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, England. It is produced globally by Nestlé (which acquired Rowntree's in 1988), except in the United States, where i ...
candy *Degree Inclusive deodorant for people with disabilities *WaterLight, a device that converts salt water into electricity * Hellmann’s Mayonnaise tips on how to avoid food waste


Inspiring Growth

Wunderman Thompson issues a global brand study called "Inspiring Growth", which ranks the most inspiring brands in the world, using data from WPP's proprietary BAV dataset. Part of its study is an annual Inspire Score based on a proprietary diagnostic tool to rank the top 100 inspiring brands around the world. The study also includes research on the role of inspiration in people’s lives.


References

{{WPP Advertising agencies based in New York City American companies established in 2018