JWT

One of the oldest and largest global creative advertising agencies, operating as a WPP subsidiary until its merger with Wunderman in 2018

J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was founded in 1864 and grew to become one of the largest and most influential advertising agencies in the world. Headquartered in New York City, JWT operated as a full-service creative agency offering brand strategy, creative development, media planning, digital marketing, and consumer research. The agency built iconic campaigns for major global brands including Ford, Nestlé, Unilever, and HSBC, establishing a legacy of creative excellence spanning more than 150 years. JWT was a key subsidiary of WPP Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. Within the AdTech and broader advertising ecosystem, JWT represented the traditional creative agency model, though it increasingly integrated digital, data-driven, and programmatic capabilities to remain competitive in the evolving media landscape. The agency maintained a vast global network with offices in over 90 countries. In 2018, WPP merged JWT with Wunderman, a data and technology-focused agency, to form Wunderman Thompson. This merger was a strategic move to combine JWT's creative heritage with Wunderman's digital and CRM capabilities, reflecting the industry's shift toward data-driven marketing. The JWT brand was effectively retired as a standalone entity following this consolidation, and Wunderman Thompson has since been further rebranded as VML following a 2023 merger with VMLY&R.