JWT Closes Chicago Office

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NEW YORK JWT is shuttering its Chicago office, two years after it was reduced to a satellite operation following the loss of most of its Kraft Foods business.

In 2007, Kraft shifted eight brands that then spent about $220 million annually in major measured media to other roster shops, including Ogilvy & Mather, Draftfcb and Nitro. The brands included Oscar Mayer, Lunchables, Kraft Singles and Ritz.

In the wake of the loss, president Ros King and executive creative director Graham Woodhall left, 20 staffers were laid off and the office became a satellite of New York.

Since then, Chicago has lost its last big piece of Kraft — Philadelphia Cream Cheese — and Nestle has shifted its Butterfinger brand to Interpublic Group’s Dailey & Associates in West Hollywood, Calif.

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