J. Walter Thompson Company. Frankfurt Office. Herbert Brungs papers, 1969-1988

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Summary

Creator:
J. Walter Thompson Company. Frankfurt Office
Abstract:
The J. Walter Thompson Company (JWT), founded in 1864, is one of the oldest and largest enduring advertising agencies in the United States. Herbert Brungs was the former chairman OMG (chief operating officer) and managing director (Geschäftsführer) at JWT Frankfurt, Germany, office. The papers of Herbert Brungs span the years 1969 to 1988 and document Brungs' activities as representative to the German trade organization GWA and the as the executive in charge of employee education. The collection contains general files, client files, organizations files, and writings and speeches files. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
6 Linear Feet
5000 Items
Language:
Material in English and German
Collection ID:
RL.00694

Background

Scope and content:

The Herbert Brungs Papers span the years 1969 to 1988, with the bulk from the 1980s. The papers document Brungs' activities as the representative to the German trade organization GWA and as the executive in charge of further education of employees and managers through seminars and classes. Specific topics documented the opening of the JWT office in Düsseldorf; the introduction of computers systems at JWT-Frankfurt; correspondence with academics interested in the advertising industry; relations with a few big clients such as CMA (agricultural industry) and Deutscher Wein (trade organization for German wine); communication with the GWA concerning the relationship between the industry and politicians; industry excellence awards; and internal and external seminars and their evaluations. The collection consists of typed and handwritten correspondence; external and internal memoranda; articles and presentations (typed or offprints) accompanied by charts and graphs; and some other printed material. Approximately 70 percent of the collection is in German. Only correspondence with foreign offices and clients as well as some of the subject material is in English.

Biographical / historical:
Chronology List
Date Event
1927
Born
1948
Graduated from high school with Abitur
1949
Graduated from Agricultural College, with Wine growing specialty
1949-1951
Attended University Bonn as a student in Economics and Chemistry
1956-1958
Employed as Assistant Manager in Advertising Department at Ford Motor Company
1957-1959
Attended advertising school
1958-1959
Served as Vice President for merchandising at Display International
1959-1961
Served as representative at the Heumann advertising agency
1961
Joined JWT
1961-1963
Served as account representative for Lux liquid, Suwa detergent, Maggi soups, Findus deep frozen food
1964-1965
Served as senior representative for Kraft cheese products
1966-1967
Served as account supervisor for all Kraft products
1966-1967
Served as head of sales promotion group
1967-1968
Served as acount representative for Kraft trade, Kraft coordinator for Central America and Oscar Mayer canned food at JWT-Chicago
1969-1970
Served as account supervisor and associate director for all Kraft products
1970-1986
Served as account supervisor and associate director for the German Wine council
1970-1977
Served as account supervisor and associate director for Birkel noodles
1973-1979
Served as management supervisor and director for Pepsi
1973-1979
Served as management supervisor for the German Fish council
1976-1977
Served as unit manager and director for all Kraft products, the German Wine council, the German Fish council, Pepsi and Birkel noodles
1976-1979
Served as unit manager and director for the Butter council
1977-1979
Served as unit manager and Geschäftsführer (executive director) all Kraft products, the German Wine council, the German Fish council, the Butter council, Pepsi, Warner Lambert, PanAm, and Südmilch
1980-1986
Served as chief executive officer in charge of Bacardi, German wine, and the German Sugar council
1986
Served as chairman OMG (chief operating officer) and Geschäftsführer (executive director) in charge of the German Sugar council, German wine, Computerland, Burger King, and Deutsche Bank
Acquisition information:
The Herbert Brungs Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a transfer in 1995.
Processing information:

Processed by Norbert Schürer, 2000

Encoded by Jessica Wood, July 2009

Accession 1996-009 is described in this finding aid.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into five series: General Files, Client Files, Events, Organizations, and Writings and Speeches.

The General Files series documents the day-to-day activities and proceedings in the JWT Frankfurt Office during Brungs' tenure: domestic and foreign correspondence; memoranda; information on JWT-Frankfurt's workers' council; and background information. Topics include the opening of the JWT office in Düsseldorf; the introduction and development of computer systems at JWT-Frankfurt; special events organized for individual clients; correspondence with academics investigating the advertising industry; personnel and financial management; JWT-Frankfurt's internal managers' organizational committee; and internal information flow through house memoranda.

The Client Files series collects Brungs' papers concerning the accounts under his direction. Since Brungs was managing director rather than account supervisor at the time of these documents, they reflect management-level discussions and decisions rather than day-to-day planning of the accounts. The series documents on-going advertising campaigns--through correspondence; presentations; research; and briefings--as well as general and economic relations between JWT-Frankfurt and its clients. The major accounts in this series are Bacardi (alcoholic beverages); Burger King; CMA (agricultural industry); DBV (insurance); Deutsche Bank; Deutscher Wein (the trade organization for German wine); Eckes (non-alcoholic beverages); Flachglas; Ford; German Fish Council; Kraft (foods); Pepsi; and Platin.

The Events series collects documents pertaining to seminars, conferences, classes, and visits organized or attended by the JWT-Frankfurt office. These seminars were organized either for the benefit of particular clients on anniversaries or when new accounts were being discussed and similar occasions, or for members of JWT. They were usually not open to all office members, but were attended by selected individuals (some of whose biographies are included in the material) from different levels of the company. Internal seminars were not all organized by the Frankfurt office, but by JWT offices around the world, especially in the United States. Some seminars were given personal names due to their sponsor or inspirer--such as the Sam Meek Seminar; the James Webb Young Seminar; and the Stanley Resnor Seminar--and were held regularly, others are one-time events. External seminars were organized by outside organizations such as Deutsche Unilever and Bernd Rohrbach Unternehmensberatung (consulting firm). Most seminars, external or internal, were accompanied by detailed evaluations, which in most cases were kept with the information on the seminars. Apart from these evaluations, there is fairly little information on the content of the seminars and more on their organization and financing.

The Organizations series collects Brungs' papers pertaining to GWA (Gesellschaft Werbeagenturen, later Gesamtverband Werbeagenturen), the German advertising industry's trade organization. JWT Frankfurt was a prominent member of the trade organization and and a number of JWT staff served as executive officers. Communication took place on two levels: Rundbriefe, circulars addressed to the representative of the companies to GWA (for most of this series, they are kept in the correspondence folders); and Chefbriefe, intended for the executive managers of the companies and are occasionally marked confidential. The series also documents annual comparisons of different companies in the industry (Betriebsvergleich); the annual award for exceptional advertisements (the Effie); meetings of the industry leaders; communications between the industry and politicians and with European and American trade organizations; attempts to standardize the industry; and the reorganization of the not-for-profit GWA (Gesellschaft Werbeagenturen) into the profit center GWA (Gesamtverband Werbeagenturen) in 1985-1986.

The Writings and Speeches series collects speeches and presentations by members of JWT as well as outsiders. The topics of the writings range from reflections on multi-national advertising; how to get more out of an advertising agency; trends in the advertising of alcoholic beverages; and JWT company presentations. About three quarters of the articles are in English, the rest in German.

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

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The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], J. Walter Thompson Company. Frankfurt Office. Herbert Brungs Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.