JWT, Changing Agencies as an Agency of Change

Ben James is the ECD at the oldest Ad Agency in the world, JWT. Animated and engaging, James feels a bit like Wily Wonka, showing us the behind the scenes look at how the candy is created.During his presentation he fills us in on the current state of Advertising-and where he thinks it is headed in the next five years. “Advertising is going to change more in the next five years than in the last 153 years that JWT has existed” he says. In order to keep up with the ever changing landscape, JWT has rebranded itself, not as an advertising agency, but as something newer altogether. “We consider ourselves a change agency,” says James. And change it has. With projects ranging from a prosthetic fin to a revolutionary stethoscope, JWT has begun creating product innovation-not just advertising it. Most of these projects are run through Wire Paper Laboratories, and in house “makers space” run by an engineer. This makers space is designed to Define, Refine, Align, and Execute answers to problems, or in other words “take problems and create in house solutions.” Taking problems and creating in house solutions? JWT is certainly an agency of change.