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J. Walter Thompson Company. International Advertisements Collection, 1900-2004 and undated, bulk 1965-1990

Title: J. Walter Thompson Company. International Advertisements Collection, , 1900-2004 and undated bulk 1965-1990

The J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), founded in 1864, is one of the oldest and largest enduring advertising agencies in the world. It opened its first international office in London in 1899, and by 1930 the agency had established offices in some 30 countries. At present, JWT manages offices or partnership arrangements in approximately 90 countries. The J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT) International Advertisements Collection spans the years 1900-2004 and consists primarily of print advertisements, along with some transparencies, photocopies of advertising, and other collateral material that document some of JWT's international advertising campaigns through the 20th century. Clients include a variety of local, national and multinational commercial firms, as well as government institutions and public service organizations. The holdings of the collection are uneven, with the bulk of the advertisements dating from the mid-1960s up to about 1990. There are limited early advertisements from Chesebrough-Pond's, General Motors, and other clients dating from the late 1920s and early 1930s in print and on microfilm from the various offices established during those years. There are almost no international advertisements from roughly 1933 to the middle of the 1950s. The United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth countries, and Latin America account for most of the advertisements from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s. While the holdings since about 1980 are much larger than earlier holdings, they are by no means complete, and vary substantially from office to office. Key multinational clients represented in the collection include Chesebrough-Pond's, Eastman Kodak, Ford, General Motors, Kraft, IBM, Pepsi, R.J. Reynolds, and Unilever. English translations of foreign-language advertisements are often provided by JWT's Asian and Pacific Offices. European and Latin American Offices provided translations far less frequently. Advertisements for members of the British Commonwealth are generally available in English only or in both English and the local language. Spanish-language advertisements produced by JWT offices in the United States, intended for the domestic Spanish-speaking population as well as for Latin America, may be found in the J. Walter Thompson Company Domestic Advertisements Collection.

ArchivalResource: 40 Linear Feet; 18,000 Items

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