Tag Archives: advertising

Mad Men Mondays: Season 7, Episode 8 “Severence”

Mad Men Mondays logo

Mad Men is back!  This half-season premier felt like an extended dream sequence with Peggy Lee’s eerie hit “Is That All There Is?” bookending the episode.

The episode opens with Don holding a cup of vending machine coffee and a lit cigarette while posing a woman wearing nothing but a pricy fur coat—Don, the eternal misogynist.  The scene widens to reveal that he is in fact working a casting call at the office.

Mathis attempts to set up Peggy on a blind date with his brother-in-law.  After some initial resistance she eventually acquiesces.  While something of a milquetoast—he won’t even return an incorrect food order—the date goes well and, after some wine and a bottle of Galliano, the date nearly culminates in a spontaneous trip to Paris.  Instead, the couple settles for a phone call in two weeks.

Fearing the toll that the advertising industry is taking on his psyche, Ken Cosgrove’s wife tries to persuade him to get out of the advertising business and focus on his writing.  The following day, at the behest of a McCann-Erickson executive, Ken is fired by Roger.  While expressing some bitterness at Roger’s lack of loyalty, he chooses to interpret the moment as kismet, an opportunity.  Rather than focus on his writing he listens to his competitive instincts and accepts a position as director of advertising for Dow Chemical.  Rather than pulling Dow’s business from the SC&P he vows to be a difficult client to please in the future.

Peggy and Joan have an encounter of their own with the heavy-handed and none-to-subtle staff of McCann.  On behalf of SC&P’s client Topaz pantyhose, together they pitch the possibility of McCann introducing them to some of their department store clients.  After a few minutes of crude innuendo from the McCann reps, Peggy finally persuades them to take a look at the proposal.  Rather than a bonding experience the meeting results in an elevator argument between Peggy and Joan over the meeting’s takeaway lessons.

After a vision (dream?) of Rachel Katz, his brief fling from season 1, in Chinchilla fur, Don attempts to set-up a meeting with her under the auspices of a potential partnership between her department store and Topaz pantyhose only to learn that she has recently passed from an illness.  Perhaps it’s the memory of Rachel that informs his continued attraction to the mysterious waitress at the late-night diner.   With Rachel’s family sitting shiva, Don attempts to pay his respects only to be cast out.  Finding his way to the diner, he attempts to connect with the waitress only to be told that the tryst was merely just compensation for the large cash tip from a previous evening.

Last night’s episode featured references to toasters, L’eggs hosiery, wine stained carpet, veal, pop tarts, and Paris.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

1-Topaz008
2 Carpet009
3-McGregor010
4-Pop-tart011
5-Fleischmans012
6-Veal013
7-Galliano014
8 Paris015

Super Bowl XIX and the Million Dollar Minute

During this year’s Super Bowl, Kim Kardashian will spoof her own public image to promote a T-Mobile data plan. The cost of airing this half-minute commercial? $4.5 million. The price tag for a minute of airtime has grown exponentially since Super Bowl I, from the bargain rate of $150,000. Advertisers are willing to front the cost because Super Bowl commercials are a cultural phenomenon unto themselves—ad exposure is amplified far beyond television viewership on game day.

Cover of JWT’s study, “The Million Dollar Minute,” 1985.
Cover of JWT’s study, “The Million Dollar Minute,” 1985. From the Burt Manning Papers, 1956-1988.

Super Bowl XIX produced network television’s first million dollar minute in 1985, prompting advertisers to ask, “Is it worth it?” The J. Walter Thompson (JWT) advertising agency set out to convince its clients that—with a stand-out, creative ad—Super Bowl advertising was indeed worth the price. The agency conducted marketing research following the 1985 game specifically to measure the impact of Super Bowl advertising. JWT interviewed over four hundred people about their football viewing habits and attitudes towards Super Bowl commercials, then summed up its findings in a report entitled, “Super Bowl XIX and the Million Dollar Minute: Anatomy of an American Institution.”

Over 100 million viewers tuned in to watch the San Francisco 49ers defeat the Miami Dolphins, 38 to 16, in 1985. This made it the tenth highest-rated show of all time, but it still fell short of the ABC network’s predictions and records set by past Super Bowls. The series finale of M*A*S*H* in 1983 still held the number one spot with a Nielsen rating of 60, compared to Super Bowl XIX’s rating of 46.

Even as football audiences were shrinking and Super Bowl viewership was in decline, the price of advertising spots continued to climb. “But,” JWT asked, “what about values beyond the ratings?” The agency argued that Super Bowl ads had a significant impact on Americans, beyond the number of viewers they reached.

Advertising during the Super Bowl was a gamble. Companies put down major financial outlays in the hopes that the impact of a Super Bowl ad would pay off. Thirty-six advertisers spent a combined $30 million for 52 minutes of commercials spread over six hours for the 1985 championship. JWT warned that an expensive ad could still be drowned out by the “chatter factor” of Super Bowl gatherings, or succumb to the power of the “remote-tuner zapping” channels.

JWT’s study confirmed the obvious with such observations as, “Super Sunday is a major social event” and, “Eating is a major part of Super Sunday.” But it also uncovered what makes a Super Bowl ad a unique opportunity for advertisers. Super Bowl advertisers had an automatic advantage with a significant segment of the audience. 14% percent of the viewers polled reported that they felt more favorable towards Super Bowl advertisers than the promoters they saw during the regular football season. Nearly half of the respondents were able to recall one or more commercials aired during the Super Bowl without any prompting.

IBM invested millions of dollars to air 13 spots sprinkled from the pre-game show through post-game programming. Apple took a different approach by publicizing its sole commercial in advance of game day. The company placed full-page ads in the Sunday newspaper, advising, “If you go to the bathroom during the fourth quarter, you’ll be sorry.” JWT had several high-profile clients in the Super Bowl that year, including Ford Motor Company, Hyatt Hotels, the U.S. Marines, and Miller Brewing Company.

Budweiser, Ford, IBM, and Apple commercials had the highest rate of unaided recall by participants in JWT’s study. IBM ran a 30-second spot over a dozen times featuring a light-hearted Charlie Chaplin impersonator. With slapstick flair, Chaplin shuffled around IBM’s PC Jr, “The computer that’s growing by leaps and bounds.” The PC Jr could run “powerful, up-to-date” programs like Lotus 123 on 8-inch floppy disks.

Apple’s ad, in contrast, had a dark and brooding tone. The minute-long commercial, entitled “Lemmings,” aired just once during Super Bowl XIX. A line of blind-folded businessmen mindlessly trudged one by one across a barren landscape until they plummeted over the edge of a cliff. Apple promised to break the monotony of “business as usual” when it released the Macintosh Office computer. JWT’s study found that the ad was the both the most loved and the most hated game day commercial that year.

The J. Walter Thompson Company’s recommendations for how to make the most of a Super Bowl advertisement sound familiar. Specifically, advertisers should use supplemental promotions and tie-ins with other forms of media to ensure their ad gets noticed. “Create additional top spin,” JWT advised. T-Mobile has certainly done so. The company released its Kim Kardashian ad early, giving Conan viewers the first glimpse. The ad won over 6 million hits on YouTube in two days. Entertainment news outlets, bloggers, and Kardashian’s 28 million Twitter followers have given the commercial momentum before it even appears on television. What is this “top spin” worth? Maybe $10 million.

Post contributed by Georgia Welch, Reference Intern for the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

150 Years of J. Walter Thompson Co. History

J. Walter Thompson owl logoOn this day in 1864, William J. Carlton and Edmund Smith established the Carlton & Smith advertising business in New York, NY. A few short years later, the agency hired a young man by the name of James Walter Thompson. Initially hired as a bookkeeper, Thompson would ultimately purchase the company from Carlton in 1878 and change the agencies name to the J. Walter Thompson Co. It would go on to be one of the largest and most enduring advertising agencies in the world with more than 200 offices in 90 countries around the world.

In 1987, the agency placed its corporate archive in the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library here at Duke University. The archive consists of roughly 5,000 linear feet of material and 160 individual collections including the papers of nearly 60 former executives, the records of six offices, 25 departments and functional centers, and over a dozen “artificial” collections such as writings and speeches, agency publications, and newsletters. Navigating this web of interconnected collections is enough to intimidate the most seasoned archival researcher, including library staff.

To help tame the wilderness of the JWT archives, Hartman Center staff, led by Technical Services Archivist Richard Collier, along with our colleagues in Digital Project Services, created an online portal to the JWT archive. We hope the portal will facilitate researcher navigation and discovery of material within the archive and help JWT commemorate its 150th year of operation.

Screen capture of the J. Walter Thompson timeline.
J. Walter Thompson Co. timeline

The portal consists of three major features: an interactive timeline (part 1 and part 2); an administrative history of JWT; and a list of collections associated with JWT in the Rubenstein Library. The timeline feature marks important dates in the history of JWT. You can scroll from event to event using the arrows or—if you were interested in learning about the agency during World War II for instance—you can scroll through the timeline bar and select a specific event.

7 Up's timeline entry.
7 Up’s timeline entry.

The second feature of the portal is an in-depth administrative history of JWT. This portion of the portal presents the history of JWT in a more linear fashion. Entries in the administrative history cover several basic topics: people, accounts, offices, innovations, and general company history. Researchers can trace when the company hired important personnel; acquired large, long-term clients such as Unilever, Ford, Kraft, Eastman Kodak, Kellogg, RCA, and the United States Marine Corps; opened national and international offices; technical achievements and innovations in radio, television, and print advertising; and other tidbits of company history such as milestones in billings and the history of the agency’s corporate branding. Each entry is illustrated with relevant photographs, advertisements, and internal documents.

Screen capture of Associated Collections featureThe final feature of the portal is perhaps the most important component of the timeline. To further assist researchers in making connections between JWT’s corporate history and collections in the archive, we have included a list of associated collections with published online guides.

The timeline has been split into two sections: the first covering 1864 through 1930 and the second into the 2000s. We encourage you to explore the images, advertisements, records, and archival collections documenting the agency’s 150 years of operation. And, of course, Happy Birthday, JWT!

Post contributed by Josh Larkin Rowley, Reference Archivist for the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

Mad Men Mondays Tuesdays: Episode 7, “Waterloo”

Mad Men Mondays logo

Mad Men‘s  midseason finale juxtaposes the U.S. space program and Napoleon as twin parables on the successes and failures of grand vision and ambition. The Apollo 11 launch and landing on the moon in July 1969 provides a running theme through the episode, and creates a poignant contrast between everyday life and a preoccupation with events 100,000 miles out in space.

The episode opens with Bert Cooper trying to watch the Apollo liftoff and yelling at the maid to turn off the vacuum cleaner. Meanwhile in California, Ted Chaough’s existential crisis while flying over Claremont terrifies the Sunkist representatives; in a later phone call he tells Jim Cutler that he wants to leave advertising altogether. Lou Avery complains to Jim Cutler that Don’s appearance in the Philip Morris client meeting cost them the Commander business to Leo Burnett. Betty entertains house guests that include surly teenager Sean and his nerdy younger brother Neil. Harry’s partnership in the firm is still under consideration, not finalized, and serves as a nodal point in a power struggle between Jim Cutler and Roger Sterling. The creative team preps for their presentation to Burger Chef in Indianapolis, while Pete worries that “now we just have to pray everything goes smoothly on the moon.”

Elsewhere at the agency, SC&P staff members speculate on the consistency of the moon’s surface while Don receives a breach of contract letter from the agency attorney. It turns out that Jim Cutler had initiated the letter in an attempt to force Don out, a move that enrages some of the other partners who hadn’t been notified before their names were placed on the letter. Don calls for a vote on his status, which is affirmed with only Joan and Jim voting to remove him. Joan, bitter that Don’s actions have cost her money, nonetheless criticizes Jim for his tactics: “You shouldn’t have done that.” Don phones Megan to tell her about the tensions at the agency, but when he suggests to her that it may be an opportunity to start over on the west coast, Megan hesitates before breaking things off with Don.

On Sunday all eyes are watching the lunar landing on television; most are amazed but surly Sean complains about the cost of the space race. When Sally repeats this to Don over the phone, he tells her “Don’t be so cynical.” Bert Cooper says a quiet “Bravo.” Shortly after, Roger receives a call that Bert has died, and goes to the office to remove Bert’s name plate from his door. He meets Joan and Jim Cutler there. Jim uses Bert’s death to suggest an opportunity to get rid of Don, to which Roger objects. Roger informs Don of Bert’s passing, and Don goes to Peggy’s hotel room to tell her to do the Burger Chef presentation herself. Roger meets with an associate at McCann Erickson who wants the Chevy team for the Buick account, but Roger suggests that McCann buy a stake in SC&P. McCann is interested only if Roger can keep the creative team of Don and Ted together.

The Burger Chef management is wowed by Peggy’s presentation, where she used the lunar landing event as a symbol of people’s hunger for connection and turned it into an analogy for the kinds of connections often missed at family dinners mediated by ever-present television. Burger Chef, she argues, offers a place to re-connect families. Her presentation ultimately wins the account. When Don returns home from Indianapolis, Roger is waiting for him and tells him of the McCann offer. Roger says it’s the only way to save the agency, as he fears Jim won’t stop until he gets rid of everyone. The next day Roger calls a partners’ meeting to announce the McCann offer; Don talks Ted into staying on and the partners’ unanimously agree to the buyout—including Jim Cutler who sees he has been outmaneuvered by Roger. On his way back to his office, Don sees the ghost of Bert Cooper, singing “The Best Things in Life Are Free.”

Last night’s episode featured references to the space mission, Napoleon, Newport, Popsicle, electric percolators and The Wild Bunch, among other things. Enjoy our selection of highlighted ads that reflect the brands and themes that Mad Men characters interacted with last night.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

Apollo_Pen_B310

Courvoisier_F330

Newports_G111

Presto_H220

Apollo_Launch_Invite

Popscicle_F160

Adding_Machine_B310

Kraft_Grape-_Jelly_F160

Wild_Bunch

Bike_G440

Astronaut_Toys_G450

Mad Men Mondays: Episode 6, “The Strategy”

Mad Men Mondays logo

After weeks of angst and anxiety, Mad Men showed viewers a happier Don Draper and Peggy Olsen last night. They are finally back in sync and working well together. Peggy and Mathis survey mothers at a Burger Chef restaurant about their reasons for buying family dinners there. Pete and Bonnie fly to New York together. Peggy presents a seemingly successful Burger Chef pitch to Lou and others, but is told that Don should be the one to present it to the client, which angers her.

Megan comes to New York for the weekend and spends time looking for her fondue pot and other items she wants to bring back to Los Angeles, while Don tries to make her nostalgic for her New York home. Bob Benson comes to New York with representatives from Chevy.  He has to bail one of them out of jail and is told that GM will be pulling the Chevy account and giving it to Campbell-Ewald, but that Bob will be offered a job at Buick. Peggy second guesses the Burger Chef pitch and works on it all weekend.

Pete visits his daughter Tammy, who barely recognizes him, and he is angry that Trudy is not around.  He gets drunk and waits for her return, only to be told that he is no longer part of that family and doesn’t get to complain.  Bonnie is angry that Pete doesn’t spend time with her in New York and leaves to go back to Los Angeles.

Don comes in to help Peggy rework the Burger Chef campaign and they manage to have productive and candid conversations.  Their creative compatibility shows through and their conversations inspire a better pitch for Burger Chef. Bob visits with Joan and her family, bearing gifts for everyone.  He proposes to Joan, and tells her that a marriage would be good for both of them. She says no, stating that she will hold out for love. The SC&P partners meet to discuss losing Chevy.  They decide to make Harry Crane a partner, with some dissention from Joan and Roger. Don and Peggy meet Pete at a Burger Chef to sell him on the new pitch.

Last night’s episode featured references to loafers, Buick, Barbie, Fondue pots, among other things.  Enjoy our selection of highlighted ads that reflect the brands and themes that Mad Men characters interacted with last night.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

You-Never-Had-Syrup-So-Good

Buick_T110

Leo_Burnett_B110

Loafers

AAA9660

Barbies_G450

Rheingold_F310

Erector_Set_G450

Bisquick_F113

Fondue_Cooking

Lighter_G120

Engagement_Ring_G210

Mad Men Monday – Season 7, Episode 4 “The Monolith”

Mad Men Mondays logo

The harsh reality of returning to SC&P has set in for Don in last night’s episode of Mad Men. He arrives at the seemingly empty office to discover the staff listening to the announcement that an IBM 360 computer will be installed in what was the creative lounge.  The creative staff grumbles about losing their space. Pete runs into an acquaintance who now works for Burger Chef and gets SC&P a chance to pitch that account.  Lou puts Peggy in charge of Burger Chef creative work, with Don reporting to her.  Peggy treats Don like an entry level copywriter and he starts behaving badly.  Roger and Mona find out that their daughter Margaret has run away to a hippie commune.  After her husband fails to get Margaret back, Mona and Roger drive to upstate New York to retrieve her.  Once at the commune, Mona storms off quickly, but Roger stays and lets Margaret show him why she loves it there.  Roger seems open minded about the commune, but later gets upset and tries to carry her off after she spends the night with one of the men there. After talking to the computer installer, Don suggests that SC&P prepare a presentation to LeaseTech, but Bert refuses.  Don starts drinking and later calls Freddie to invite him to a Mets game.  The next morning Freddie lectures Don and tells him he is wasting his second chance, advising him to buckle down and work hard. Don seems to get the message and goes to work ready to do what it takes to earn back the trust of his colleagues.

Last night’s episode featured references to Burger Chef, IBM 360, homemade jelly and gin, among other things.  Enjoy our selection of highlighted ads that reflect the brands and themes that Mad Men characters interacted with last night.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

Burger_Chef_BBB1523

Hardhat_A170

IBM_AAA4902

Orange_Couch_H120

Spaghetti_F120

Typewriter_B110

Punchcards_B310

Fur_Coat_A170

Homemade_Jelly_F115

GIJoe2 (2)

Watch the GI Joe commercial: https://archive.org/details/dmbb23910

Booths_Gin_F330

 

Mad Men Monday — Season 7, Episode 3 “Field Trip”

Mad Men Mondays logo

Last night’s episode of Mad Men features several characters whose elevated hopes for connections with others get dashed.  Don flies out to Los Angeles after Megan’s agent calls him to say that she was desperate and demanding with a director after an audition. She is happy to see him, but then gets upset when she realizes why he came.  He is forced to admit that SC&P put him on leave and she asks him to go for being dishonest. Peggy is upset that her St. Joseph’s commercial wasn’t nominated for a Clio, and later finds out that Lou only submitted work that he could claim as his own. Betty meets Francine for lunch and Francine brags about her new career as a travel agent. She tells Betty that working in an office is her reward for raising kids.  Later Betty tells Bobby that she will chaperone his field trip the next day and he is thrilled to spend time with her. Harry exaggerates SC&P’s media capability to the clients from Koss, and later tells Jim that they need a computer to compete. Don meets with two men from Wells Rich Greene and gets an offer to work for them.  Don takes that offer to Roger, who agrees to let Don come back the following Monday. Betty and Bobby have a good time on the field trip until Bobby gives away Betty’s sandwich to a friend. Don arrives at SC&P on Monday morning, and awkwardly greets the staff until Roger comes in around lunchtime. The partners are upset that Don is back, but realize it will cost them too much to fire him officially.  Instead they agree to take him back only if he can adhere to several restrictive rules and reports to Lou. He agrees.

Last night’s episode featured references to typewriters, Kahlua, plaid jackets, and bras, among other things.  Enjoy our selection of highlighted ads that reflect the brands and themes that Mad Men characters interacted with last night.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

Royal_Typewriter_B310

Weldwood_Paneling

Sara_Lee_Coffee_Cake_F130

Deansgate_Mens_Jacket_A112

Kahlua_F330

Bonny_Plaid_Jacket_A112

Joey_Heatherton_A112

Maidenform_Bra

Chicken_Salad

Mad Men Monday – Season 7, Episode 2 “A Day’s Work”

Mad Men Mondays logo

 

Last night’s episode of Mad Men depicts Valentine’s Day at SC&P. Several characters are upset when they are treated poorly or shuffled around, but by the end of the episode we see that there is housekeeping afoot that reveals new opportunities. Don’s day to day existence is exposed through sleeping late, cracker eating, and flipping through magazines.  Only when he is preparing for Dawn to come by and brief him does he clean up and get dressed to preserve the illusion that he is his normal steely self. Sally and her friends are given leave to go to New York City to attend the funeral of another friend’s mother and subsequently sneak off to go shopping before their return.  Once Sally realizes that she lost her purse, she goes to SC&P to ask Don for train fare.  Her encounter with Lou Avery exposes Don’s subterfuge and gets Dawn unfairly demoted to reception. Sally waits for Don at his apartment and when he returns from lunch with a contact at Wells Rich Greene he drives her back to boarding school. Peggy mistakes Shirley’s roses as ones for her from Ted, which causes a chain reaction of frustration and awkwardness for the two women. Joan is aggravated when her colleagues keep demanding that she solve their problems with secretarial staff by shifting them around. Pete is angry that he has to defer to Bob Benson and Chevrolet’s permission when he lands the SoCal Chevy Dealers Association account. Sally and Don finally have a frank conversation on the way back to school that begins to repair their damaged relationship. Jim Cutler offers Joan the opportunity to focus on account management, which allows her to leave behind the frustrations of human resources. Joan’s parting gesture as she moves to her new office is to reward Dawn with a promotion to human resources.  We see Dawn smile as she settles into her new office.

Last night’s episode featured references to Ritz crackers, Coffee Mate, Chevy Dealers Association, and Cutty Sark, among other things.  Enjoy our selection of highlighted ads that reflect the brands and themes that Mad Men characters interacted with last night.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

Life_Drinking_PSA

 

L&M_G111

Ritz_F160

Bug_Spray_H240

CoffeeMate_F119

Sweet_n_Low_F123_folder1

AT&T_B140_Folder1

 

Life_Chevy_Dealer

Cutty_Sark_F330

Life_Sirhan

Engagement_Ring_G210

 

CocaCola_ValentinesDay_F220

Mad Men Mondays: Episode 1, “Time Zones”

Mad Men Mondays logo

Everyone’s favorite ad men and women are back with Season 7 of Mad Men!  Join the Hartman Center as we look back at some ads that resonate with each episode of the new season in what we call Mad Men Mondays.

The episode begins in January 1969 with freelancer Freddy Rumsen pitching a commercial for Accutron watches to an enthusiastic Peggy. Later Peggy pitches a variation on the same ad to new SC&P creative director Lou Avery and is disappointed when he opts for a blander slogan.

Roger wakes up amongst a group of naked sleeping people on the floor of his messy hotel room when his daughter calls to invite him to brunch. A harried and overworked Ken asks Joan to meet with a representative from Butler Footwear in his stead.  She quickly realizes that Butler’s marketing director intends to move all advertising in-house and dismiss SC&P.

Don visits Megan in Los Angeles for the weekend and they have a series of awkward encounters. Don also meets up with a happy, suntanned Pete, who shows him around the new office and brings him up to speed on SC&P gossip. Peggy and Ted have an awkward exchange when he visits the New York office. Joan meets with a Columbia University business professor to get an analysis of Butler Footwear’s plans.  The professor’s ideas help Joan keep Butler’s account from firing SC&P right away.

Roger’s daughter forgives him for all of his transgressions over brunch, which doesn’t seem to sink in with him until later when he lies down with his lover and another man. Don meets a woman on the plane back to New York and they have a candid conversation about their lives, but he declines her offer of more. Peggy has to deal with her tenant’s toilet problems and is frustrated with her life.

Last night’s episode featured references to Accutron watches, Austin Healy, brunch, vodka, and sliding doors, among other things.  Enjoy our selection of highlighted ads that reflect the brands and themes that Mad Men characters interacted with last night.

A gallery of our selected images may also be found on Flickr.

Accutron

Schlitz

Norelco Electric Razors

Berkshire Pantyhose

Austin Healy Ad

Piper Champagne Ad

The Year of the Brunch Booklet

Smirnoff Ad

Playboy Ad

Magnavox Ad

TWA Ad

 Cover, J. Walter Thompson Annual Report, 1969Nixon Inauguration, Life MagazineMeds Tampons Ad

Trish Wheaton on Sustainability and the Socially Conscious Consumer

Date: Tuesday, March 4th
Time: 5:30 PM, reception to follow
Location: Perkins Library room 217
Contact: Jacqueline Reid Wachholz, j.reid(at)duke.edu

“From Niche to Mainstream: Planet Brands and the Rise of the Socially Conscious Consumer”

Trish WheatonTrish Wheaton is CMO of Wunderman and Managing Partner of Y&R Advertising, two global marketing giants. In her role for both companies, Wheaton identified the untapped marketing opportunity around sustainability and now leads a cross-disciplinary sustainability consulting practice that works with major brands to tell their sustainability story credibly and compellingly.

In this talk, Wheaton will share how many of the world’s leading brands are becoming more sustainable in their operations, their manufacturing, and in the products they make. These “Planet Brands” are leading the way to take sustainability from niche interest to a mainstream sentiment.

Wheaton will also introduce you to a rapidly growing global market of socially conscious consumers, “The Aspirationals,” who are demanding that companies be part of solving social and environment problems. And in an age of increasing transparency, The Aspirationals also want companies to talk about what they are doing: “If you do it, say it.” Wheaton’s talk will also include best case examples of companies who have told their sustainability story credibly and well.

The event is co-sponsored by the Nicholas School’s Environmental Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, the Duke Marketing Club and the Markets & Management Studies program.

Post contributed by Jackie Reid Wachholz, director of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.