Charlotte Beers and J. Walter Thompson
Just two years after her retirement from Ogilvy and Mather and Charlotte Beers was seduced back into the business. In 1999 J. Walter Thompson, the 135 year old advertising agency presented Beers with an offer that she could not refuse. Now, not only referred to as the most powerful woman in advertising, Beers was one of the most powerful women in the entire business world. For the third time she was about to become the top leader at a giant agency.
Chris Jones, J. Walter Thompson's chairman since January of 1998 relinquished his duties in an unusual shifting and sharing of power. At 63, Beers joined the company with the goal to focus on the "vitality of brands" sold by clients, acquisitions, new business and "long-term strategic development, which in the advertising business is next year." Beers was emphatic that the company hire new talent, "we must find the best people in the business; nothing happens with out that."
At the time that Charlotte Beers accepted the position at J. Walter Thompson it became widely publicized that she was hired to do "client hand-holding". Publications depicted her as the "schmooze queen of Madison Avenue" who was there to put on her charms with chief executive responsible for ad dollars.
Beers refuted the claims by saying how insulting the comments were, "I can't think of anything more disdainful of our clients, as if they need hand-holding." and "nothing offends me more than to say I specialize in client dinners." In typical Beers fashion, branding was priority one, not "schmoozing".
At Ogilvy and Mather the concept is brand stewardship, at J. Walter Thompson it is "total branding". Beers had her work cut out for her once again, with JWT's influence on the industry waning, facing pressures from start-ups and Internet agencies, specialized consulting firms and even their own clients who were increasingly orchestrating their won branding strategies, agencies like JWT were losing clients. Beers was being called upon to keep existing clients satisfied while bring the company into the new millennium with a new, inspirational mission. "I am here as part of a true period of reinvention."
A year after her return to advertising, J. Walter Thompson was stunning the industry with its complete turn-around. The agency under the leadership of Beers had secured over $700 million in new US billings, with heavy-duty clients such as Qwest Communications, Elizabeth Arden Co., Salon Selectives, Miller Genuine Draft and Shell Oil Co. Additionally the company seemed to be fairing better in the creative arena with a win at the Cannes Advertising Festival for a TV commercial for Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch. Proving yet again that Charlotte Beers has the power to turn a company around.