JWT closes Chicago office with loss of 50 jobs
NEW YORK - JWT is to close its Chicago office, two years after its key account Kraft Foods pulled nearly $200m worth of business out of the agency.
JWT Chicago, which was reduced to a satellite operation of JWT's New York office following the Kraft bombshell, is to shutter its doors this week. About 50 employees are expected to lose their jobs.
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The agency's 118-year old Chicago office was responsible for legendary campaigns including Rice Krispie's 'Snap, Crackle, Pop' and 7Up's 'Uncola'.
In 2003, JWT Chicago lost a major client in Miller Brewing and was further crippled by the 2007 loss of Kraft Foods, the nation's largest packaged foods company.
Kraft shifted eight major brands away from JWT including Miracle Whip, Kraft Singles and Ritz Crackers to rival agencies Ogilvy & Mather, Draftfcb, DDB and McGarryBowen.
After the blow, JWT cut a quarter of its Chicago staff and parted ways with president Ros King and head of creative Graham Woodall. It retained about 50 staff with management coming from its New York headquarters.
JWT Chicago's remaining business, which includes Nestle ice cream products and a number of Kimberly-Clark brands, is expected to move to New York.
In an internal memo, JWT North America president Rosemarie Ryan, said: "In a business fuelled by ideas and the people who create them, losing good people is the most wrenching decision an agency can make.
"However, these are extremely challenging conditions and as a business, we have no choice but to respond to them."
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