William Alexander Wilkens

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William Alexander Wilkens (* 1851 ; † May 4, 1911 ) was a German entrepreneur and advertiser .

Wilkens was the son of a respected Hamburg wine merchant and after graduating from school he did an apprenticeship at a merchant's office . He then worked as an editor for the Hamburg Correspondent and was responsible for the newspaper's advertising area.

On September 23, 1876, at the age of 25, Wilkens founded the "Central-Annoncen-Bureau William Wilkens" for advertising and design. With the possibility of booking media, design, texts and advertisements, a full-service approach was already being pursued . Among other things, the agency worked for the Nivea Crème brand of Beiersdorf AG from 1907 . After Wilkens died of pneumonia at the age of 59, his eldest son William Henry Wilkens took over the company in 1911. After the Second World War , the company was re-established in 1945, with Wilken's son Harry becoming a partner in the company. In the third generation, William Harry Wilkens sold shares in the agency to NW Ayer & Son in November 1985.

The company True North Communications, which was founded in January 1995 as the holding company of Foote, Cone & Belding ( FCB ) and which was partly part of the Publicis Groupe , took over the Wilkens International European Network in 1997. True North Communications became part of the Interpublic Group in June 2001 of Companies , to which the agency still belongs today. With the merger of FCB and Draft to form Draftfcb Group in 2006, the name Wilkens disappeared from the agency name after 130 years. The agency still exists today and has been operating under the name FCB since March 2014 after a further name change. This makes FCB Germany's oldest advertising agency.

Wilkens was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Advertising in 2004 as an outstanding figure in advertising history .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wirtschaftswoche: The forefather
  2. ↑ Der Spiegel: Damned Compulsions
  3. ^ The New York Times: True North, resuming its drive to expand in Europe, agrees to acquire Wilkens International.
personal data
SURNAME Wilkens, William Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneurs and advertisers
DATE OF BIRTH 1851
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 1911