Young & Rubicam
Encyclopedia
Y&R is a marketing
and communications
company specializing in advertising
, digital
and social media
, sales promotion
, direct marketing
and brand identity consulting.
and Raymond Rubicam
established a small advertising agency
in New York. It still operates in the original building. During the 1960s, Y&R produced the first color television commercials. In the 1970s, under the leadership of Edward N. Ney
as chief executive officer, Y&R expanded with the acquisition of Wunderman Ricotta & Kline in 1973, Cato Johnson in 1976, and Burson-Marsteller
in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, Y&R continued to build an integrated marketing offering by buying diverse firms like Landor Associates in corporate and brand identity. By the end of the decade there were nine companies formally owned.
Y&R became the highest-billing advertising agency in the United States
in 1975 with billings recorded at US$
477 million.
In the 1990s, Y&R was charged with bribery
related to a Jamaica
n tourism
account, and a partnership with Dentsu
and Eurocom
fell apart when Eurocom withdrew. Y&R and Dentsu reformed as Dentsu, Young & Rubicam Partnerships.
Peter Georgescu became chief executive officer
in 1994 and began to streamline the company's operations. In 1995, Y&R began an acquisition push again, increasing ownership in advertising agencies and public relations
firms across Africa
, Asia
, Europe
, and Latin America
.
In 1996, Hellman & Friedman
became Y&R's first outside investor
, and on May 15, 1998, Y&R closed an initial public offering
of its common stock
, and became a public company
.
In 2000, Y&R was acquired by the WPP Group
, a London
-based marketing communications holding company.
The following summaries are extracted from the 2000 Y&R annual report
.
David Sable is the Global CEO, Hamish McLennan is the Global Chairman, Tony Granger
is the Global Chief Creative Officer, and Peter Law-Gisiko is the CFO of Young & Rubicam Advertising.
is a marketing technology company based in Kansas City
, Missouri
, with additional offices in New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago. The VML network includes Studiocom, with offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Bogotá, Colombia, and VML in London.
"helps powerful brands inspire consumer action". Wunderman is headquartered in New York and operates in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia/Pacific regions.
Lester Wunderman, the founder of Wunderman, Ricotta & Kline in 1958 and acknowledged father of direct marketing
, spawned a new way of selling products and services. In November 1967, he coined the phrase Direct Marketing to describe the new type of advertising he was practicing.
is headquartered in New York and operates in the United States, Latin America, the Asia/Pacific region and Europe.
is a public relations firm specializing in corporate communication and brand identity. It was founded in 1970 and was acquired by Young-Rubicam in 1984. Cohn & Wolfe operates in North America, Europe and Australia.
is a branding consultancy and strategic design firm. Landor offers branding and identity projects, including corporate identity, packaging and brand identity systems, retail design and branded environments, interactive branding and design, verbal branding and nomenclature systems, corporate literature, brand extensions and new brand development.
Landor was founded in 1941 and was acquired by Y&R in 1989. Landor is headquartered in San Francisco and operates in the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Australia, Europe and the Middle East, including multidisciplinary consulting and design studios in New York, Seattle, Mexico City, Hamburg, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
S&H was founded in 1941 and was acquired by Y&R in 1973. S&H is headquartered in New York and operates in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region.
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
and communications
Marketing communications
Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
company specializing in advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, digital
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
and social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
, sales promotion
Sales promotion
Sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix. Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability...
, direct marketing
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
and brand identity consulting.
History
In 1923, John Orr YoungJohn Orr Young
John Orr Young was an American advertiser who, with Raymond Rubicam, founded the Young and Rubicam advertising agency....
and Raymond Rubicam
Raymond Rubicam
Raymond Rubicam was an American advertising pioneer who co-established the Young & Rubicam advertising agency with John Orr Young...
established a small advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
in New York. It still operates in the original building. During the 1960s, Y&R produced the first color television commercials. In the 1970s, under the leadership of Edward N. Ney
Edward N. Ney
Edward Noonan Ney was the chief executive officer of advertising agency Young & Rubicam from 1970 to 1986, and served as United States Ambassador to Canada from 1989 to 1992.-Biography:...
as chief executive officer, Y&R expanded with the acquisition of Wunderman Ricotta & Kline in 1973, Cato Johnson in 1976, and Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller is a global public relations and communications firm headquartered in the United States. Burson-Marsteller operates 67 wholly owned offices and 71 affiliate offices in 98 countries across six continents...
in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, Y&R continued to build an integrated marketing offering by buying diverse firms like Landor Associates in corporate and brand identity. By the end of the decade there were nine companies formally owned.
Y&R became the highest-billing advertising agency in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1975 with billings recorded at US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
477 million.
In the 1990s, Y&R was charged with bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
related to a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
account, and a partnership with Dentsu
Dentsu
is one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Its headquarters are located in the Dentsu Building in the Shiodome district of Minato, Tokyo....
and Eurocom
Eurocom
Eurocom is a British video game developer founded specifically to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then Eurocom has expanded to several other platforms including handheld game systems and most major video game consoles.The company was once famous for its arcade to console...
fell apart when Eurocom withdrew. Y&R and Dentsu reformed as Dentsu, Young & Rubicam Partnerships.
Peter Georgescu became chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
in 1994 and began to streamline the company's operations. In 1995, Y&R began an acquisition push again, increasing ownership in advertising agencies and public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
firms across Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
In 1996, Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman is a private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts and minority growth capital investments....
became Y&R's first outside investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
, and on May 15, 1998, Y&R closed an initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
of its common stock
Common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. It is called "common" to distinguish it from preferred stock. In the event of bankruptcy, common stock investors receive their funds after preferred stock holders, bondholders, creditors, etc...
, and became a public company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
.
In 2000, Y&R was acquired by the WPP Group
WPP Group
WPP plc is a global media communications services company with its main management office in London, United Kingdom and its executive office in Dublin, Ireland. It is the world's largest advertising group by revenues, and employs over 150,000 people in 2,400 offices in 107 countries...
, a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based marketing communications holding company.
Operations
Young & Rubicam operates 14 services companies organized to provide for the (KCA key corporate account) program, created in 1992 to "enhance the coordination of services sought by clients from both a global coverage as well as an integrated solutions perspective".The following summaries are extracted from the 2000 Y&R annual report
Annual report
An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance...
.
Young & Rubicam Advertising
Young & Rubicam Advertising is one of the world's largest consumer advertising agencies, offering strategic and creative development, consumer research and marketing. Young & Rubicam Advertising ranks as the world's 10th largest advertising agency, with revenues of approximately $907 million.David Sable is the Global CEO, Hamish McLennan is the Global Chairman, Tony Granger
Tony Granger
Tony Granger is the Global Chief Creative Officer of New York-based global advertising agency Young & Rubicam.-Career:Granger’s career began in his native South Africa in 1991 at advertising agency Grey where he worked as an assistant art director...
is the Global Chief Creative Officer, and Peter Law-Gisiko is the CFO of Young & Rubicam Advertising.
VML
VML, Inc.VML, Inc.
VML is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with principal offices in New York City, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, London, Milan, Geneva, Budapest, Auckland, Melbourne and Bogotá...
is a marketing technology company based in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, with additional offices in New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago. The VML network includes Studiocom, with offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Bogotá, Colombia, and VML in London.
The Bravo Group and Kang & Lee
Bravo Group and Kang & Lee create multicultural marketing and communications programs targeted to the U.S. Hispanic and Asian communities through advertising, promotion and event marketing, public relations, research and direct marketing.Wunderman
WundermanWunderman
Wunderman is a network of advertising, marketing and consulting companies with offices in 55 countries. Headquartered in New York City, Wunderman is part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of WPP Group .- History :...
"helps powerful brands inspire consumer action". Wunderman is headquartered in New York and operates in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia/Pacific regions.
Lester Wunderman, the founder of Wunderman, Ricotta & Kline in 1958 and acknowledged father of direct marketing
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
, spawned a new way of selling products and services. In November 1967, he coined the phrase Direct Marketing to describe the new type of advertising he was practicing.
KnowledgeBase Marketing
KBM provides integrated information-based marketing solutions to businesses in targeted high-growth industries. KBM delivers its integrated business solutions services by creating consolidated databases, and then designing, implementing and evaluating database marketing programs for clients. KBM's capabilities include data warehousing, data mining, information services and data analysis. Y&R acquired KBM in May 1999.Burson-Marsteller
This public relations company issues analysis, crisis management, consumer and business marketing and research, corporate communications, investor relations and public affairs advocacy. Burson-MarstellerBurson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller is a global public relations and communications firm headquartered in the United States. Burson-Marsteller operates 67 wholly owned offices and 71 affiliate offices in 98 countries across six continents...
is headquartered in New York and operates in the United States, Latin America, the Asia/Pacific region and Europe.
Cohn & Wolfe
Cohn & WolfeCohn & Wolfe
Cohn & Wolfe is a global public relations firm dedicated to creating, building and protecting corporate brands. Its mission is to support through a mix of both traditional and unconventional marketing and public relations techniques designed to build media visibility, develop customer relationships...
is a public relations firm specializing in corporate communication and brand identity. It was founded in 1970 and was acquired by Young-Rubicam in 1984. Cohn & Wolfe operates in North America, Europe and Australia.
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery specializes in working with the senior management of companies to develop and implement strategies for corporate image-building, financial transactions, crisis management, litigation support and media and investor programs. RLM was founded in 1986 and was acquired by Y&R in March 2000.Landor Associates
Landor AssociatesLandor Associates
Landor Associates is a San Francisco-based brand and creative design consultancy. Founded by Walter Landor and his wife Josephine in 1941, Landor pioneered many of the research, design and consulting methodologies that are now standard in the branding industry.-Operations:Landor offers brand...
is a branding consultancy and strategic design firm. Landor offers branding and identity projects, including corporate identity, packaging and brand identity systems, retail design and branded environments, interactive branding and design, verbal branding and nomenclature systems, corporate literature, brand extensions and new brand development.
Landor was founded in 1941 and was acquired by Y&R in 1989. Landor is headquartered in San Francisco and operates in the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Australia, Europe and the Middle East, including multidisciplinary consulting and design studios in New York, Seattle, Mexico City, Hamburg, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Sudler & Hennessey
Sudler & Hennessey is a leading healthcare communications firm that develops strategic promotional and educational programs for a wide spectrum of healthcare brands. S&H creates advertising, direct marketing and sales promotion programs for prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications. In addition, S&H provides strategic consultancy and communications support in the areas of managed care, medical devices and equipment, nutrition, veterinary medicine and general healthcare. Communications programs produced by S&H on behalf of its largely pharmaceutical industry client base are directed to a wide range of healthcare professionals as well as patients and their support networks.S&H was founded in 1941 and was acquired by Y&R in 1973. S&H is headquartered in New York and operates in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region.
Notable employees
- William E. ForbesWilliam E. ForbesWilliam E. Forbes was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of California and owner of the Southern California Music Co...
, later a regent of the University of California. - Edward N. NeyEdward N. NeyEdward Noonan Ney was the chief executive officer of advertising agency Young & Rubicam from 1970 to 1986, and served as United States Ambassador to Canada from 1989 to 1992.-Biography:...
, CEO from 1970 to 1986