JWT shuts Chicago office
08 Apr 2009
JWT is closing down its Chicago office, two years after it was reduced to a satellite operation following the loss of most of its Kraft Foods business.
In 2007, Kraft shifted eight brands that then spent about $220 million annually in major measured media to other roster shops, including Ogilvy & Mather, Draftfcb and Nitro. The brands included Oscar Mayer, Lunchables, Kraft Singles and Ritz.
After this president Ros King and executive creative director Graham Woodhall left, while 20 staffers were laid off and the office became a satellite of New York.
Then JWT Chicago lost its last big piece of Kraft -- Philadelphia Cream Cheese -- and Nestle has shifted its Butterfinger brand to Interpublic Group's Dailey & Associates in West Hollywood, California.
JWT Chicago's was left with just Kimberly-Clark brands Depends, Poise and GoodNites and a handful of Nestle ice cream and baking products. All these will now shift to New York. The closing will affect some 50 staffers and be completed within 60 days. The office first opened in 1891.
