 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline .(November 2021) |
Thomas Watson is a co-founder and former Vice Chairman of the Omnicom Group, Inc. and consults for Omnicom on management education and leadership development as Dean Emeritus of Omnicom University, Residency and Diversity programs.
Watson is a graduate of Delaware Valley College (now Delaware Valley University) and Hofstra University's Frank G. Zarb School of Business (MBA). He also received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Delaware Valley College. [1]
Watson began his business career in 1958 in sales with Abbott Laboratories. From 1960-1963, he worked for Merck & Co. in marketing and started his advertising career with Interpublic's Erwin Wasey Agency in account management in 1963-1965. This was followed by a year with the Robert A. Becker advertising agency, before joining BBDO in 1966.
In 1986, he assisted in development of BBDO's network agency strategy, created the Network Training Program to implement the strategy and was a member of the "4101" team that created Omnicom in 1986. He has managed several OMC pro bono initiatives with Omnicom companies for the Jackie Robinson Foundation, In Roads and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. [2]
In 1994 he developed the Senior Management Program (SMP) for Diversified Agency Services, the largest division of Omnicom. In 2000 he expanded the SMP to include senior managers of all divisions of the company, creating "Omnicom University".
In 1999, he initiated a company global study on Employee Relationship Management and its impact on profitability, and subsequently published in David Maister's 2001 book Practice What You Preach. He wrote "People Make Profits" for Advertising Age (4/28/03) on this work. He also contributed work on "the Organization Brain" concept and organization learning at Omnicom in the 2003 book The Value Profit Chain.
Watson retired from Omnicom January 2005 and continued to run the Omnicom University as Dean in 2005. [3]
In 2006, he created the Watson Executive in Residence and Scholars Program at Delaware Valley College. He serves as Chairman of the President's Advisory Council.
He is co-manager of Two Bare Arms Productions, LLC and is the Executive Producer on "Mixed Signals": a short film shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Judee Wales CD "Love Life" and her music videos "My Other Half" and "Goldfinger". [4]
An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally independent of the client; it may be an internal department or agency that provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services, or an outside firm. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies promotions for its clients, which may include sales as well.
Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City.
WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. WPP plc owns many companies, which includes advertising, public relations, media, and market research networks such as AKQA, BCW, CMI Media Group, Essence Global, Finsbury, Grey, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Mindshare, Ogilvy, Wavemaker, Wunderman Thompson, and VMLY&R. It is one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside Publicis, Interpublic Group of Companies, and Omnicom. WPP has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
DDB Worldwide Communications Group LLC, known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. The international advertising networks Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper merged their worldwide agency operations to become DDB Needham in 1986. At that same time the owners of Doyle Dane Bernbach, Needham Harper and BBDO merged their shareholdings to form the US listed holding company Omnicom. In 1996, DDB Needham became known as DDB Worldwide.
Ketchum Inc. is a global public relations firm, offering marketing, branding, and corporate communications services in the corporate, healthcare, food and beverage, and technology industries. George Ketchum founded the firm as a Pittsburgh-based advertising company in 1923. It later evolved to include a public relations practice. The firm is headquartered in New York City, with auxiliary offices and affiliates in North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The agency has been owned by Omnicom Group since 1996. Ketchum merged with Düsseldorf-based Pleon in one of the industry's largest mergers in 2009. It has been led by President and CEO Mike Doyle since 2020.
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. With more than 15,000 employees at 289 offices in 81 countries, it is the largest of three global networks of agencies in the portfolio of Omnicom Group.
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris.
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is an American publicly traded advertising company. The company consists of five major networks: FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Group, and Marketing Specialists, as well as a number of independent specialty agencies in the areas of public relations, sports marketing, talent representation, and healthcare. It is one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside WPP, Publicis and Omnicom. Phillippe Krakowsky became the company's CEO on January 1, 2021.
TBWA\Chiat\Day is the American division of the advertising agency TBWA Worldwide. Created in the 1995 merger of TBWA and Chiat/Day, the agency operates offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, and Mexico City. Prior to the merger, Chiat/Day created internationally notable advertising, including "1984" for Apple Computer, the advertisement that introduced the Macintosh computer. The merger also inspired the creation of the ad agency St.Lukes by Chiat/Day's London office's employees.
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO is an advertising agency that works with over 85 brands, including BT, Diageo, Walkers, and Mars. AMV campaigns may incorporate digital, social, experiential, print or broadcast media.
GSD&M is an American advertising agency headquartered in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1971 by graduates of University of Texas at Austin – Roy Spence, Judy Trabulsi, Tim McClure and Steve Gurasich, and others, as AdVantage Associates. After the 1972 political campaign for former Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough, it re-organized with the four principals, as GSD&M. Since 1998, GSD&M has been part of the Omnicom Group. A satellite office is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Porter Novelli is a public relations firm, part of Omnicom Group. The company has 35 owned offices and clients in 60 countries.
RPA is a full-service American advertising and marketing agency headquartered in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in 1986 by Gerry Rubin and Larry Postaer and currently employs more than 700 associates. The agency has regional offices in Portland, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Moorestown, New Jersey.
Lee Garfinkel is an American businessperson in the field of advertising. He was most recently the CEO of FCB Garfinkel, the New York office of FCB.
Mody Kidon is an Israeli businessman, with real estate interests both in Israel and abroad. He is the chairman of the Israel Advertising Federation and a senior business manager for Gitam Image Promotion Systems, a private holdings company.
The proposed merger of Publicis and Omnicom was a proposed advertising industry merger between Publicis and Omnicom, announced on July 28, 2013. The resulting company would have been called Publicis Omnicom Group, and would have been the world's biggest advertising group with market capitalisation of $35.1 billion, pro-forma revenue of $22.7 billion, and more than 130,000 employees across the world. After the merger, Publicis Omnicom and WPP would have been the largest advertising groups in the world., followed at a distance by Dentsu and Interpublic Group of Companies. The Publicis and Omnicom chief executives heralded the proposed operation as a "merger of equals" saying that Publicis and Omnicom shareholders will each hold about 50 percent of the new group's equity. The group would have had head offices in Paris and New York.
Charles E. "Chuck" Brymer is an American businessman, marketing strategist, author, and former President and CEO of DDB Worldwide, an advertising agency.
OMD Worldwide is a media communications agency. It is a subsidiary of Omnicom Group and an Omnicom Media Group agency considered the holding company's "media specialist brand". Omnicom Media Group is the media services division of Omnicom Group. OMD is headquartered in New York City and its chief executive officer is George Manas.
Michael Birkin is an English global marketing executive, notable for his role in developing the concept of brand valuation as well as for his involvement in global marketing operations. He began his career at Interbrand in 1987, later working at Omnicom Group and Acer Inc. He founded his own marketing services company, Red Peak Group, in 2010. He currently serves as CEO of kyu, the strategic operating unit of Hakuhodo DY Holdings.
Allen G. Rosenshine is an American advertising executive who previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO). He was also the founding chairman (1986-1989) of the Omnicom Group, the second largest advertising agency in the world.