ABSTRACT
The J. Walter Thompson Company successfully transacted in knowledge and established enduring agency relations with its clients without the aid of an established institutional precedent like the merchant-correspondent model that shipping agents relied upon. This advertising agency had to convince clients that its own intangible assets were valuable so that it could then promote their intangible assets, thereby setting in motion a compounding effect. Examination of JWT’s relations with Lever Brothers shows how they developed a common perspective on inter-firm relations and built interconnected systems and structures.
