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42-686: As a unit of communications conglomerate WPP Group , Grey Global Group operates branded independent business units in many communications disciplines, including advertising , direct marketing , public relations , public affairs , brand development , customer relationship management , sales promotion , and interactive marketing , through its subsidiaries: Grey, G2, GCI Group, MediaCom Worldwide, Alliance, G WHIZ, and WING. Grey Group's international clients include Procter & Gamble , GlaxoSmithKline , Nokia , British American Tobacco , Diageo , Volkswagen , Novartis , Wyeth , Canon , DirecTV , and 3M . The company has won 10 Cannes Lions , an Addy ,

84-453: A Clio and an Emmy Award . Grey Group's European network, Grey EMEA , won 26 Euro Effie awards, and is the five-time Euro Effie Agency Network of the Year, in the four consecutive years of 2005–2008 and again in 2012. Founded in 1917  ( 1917 ) by Lawrence Valenstein and Arthur C. Fatt , Grey Global Group began as a direct marketing company named Grey Studios, reflecting the color of

126-406: A blog as the fictional character Barry Scott, advertising mascot for Reckitt's cleaning fluid Cillit Bang , as a viral marketing platform. In October of that year blogger Tom Coates wrote an emotional post to his own blog about his long-estranged father. Among the expressions of condolences and sympathy in the post's comment section was one from a user identifying themselves as Barry Scott, with

168-956: A LEED certified building at 200 5th Avenue in New York in November 2009, after 45 years at their previous location. Grey San Francisco is the company's San Francisco -based West Coast headquarters. Its clients include Symantec , LendingTree , Pernod Ricard , and SunEdison . In 2016, Grey acquired ArcTouch , a mobile design and development studio, which it operates as a subsidiary. In March 2017, Grey's London office announced its rebranding as Valenstein & Fatt for 100 days, to celebrate its Jewish founders and later executives, and to highlight prejudice in society. In August 2017, Grey Group appointed Michael Houston as worldwide chief executive officer on its 100th anniversary. In November 2020, WPP Group merged Grey Group and AKQA together to create AKQA Group. In July 2022, Grey Group named Laura Maness

210-622: A fire destroyed the Northampton factory, so production was restarted at Burntwood in Staffordshire. On 25 November 2004 WPP closed the Burntwood factory, and stopped manufacturing Picquotware; all assets were sold on 14 December 2004. In the 1980s, WPP began its strategy of growth via acquisitions. In later years, WPP regularly acquired dozens of companies annually. In January 1987, the company acquired Scott Stern Associates, at

252-455: A link back to Cohn & Wolfe's in-character blog as Barry Scott. Offended by the apparent use of his blog comments on such a personal post as a spam advertising venue, Coates traced the comment's originating IP address through addresses owned by Young & Rubicam and back to Reckitt. Reckitt initially denied responsibility for the message, but wrote Coates an apology acknowledging the message's inappropriateness, and Cohn & Wolfe issued

294-618: A majority stake in Kantar . By selling a majority stake of Kantar to Bain Capital , WPP is believed to have generated $ 3.1 billion to help pay down debt. Read also sold the original Wire and Plastic Products company that Sorrell had purchased to create his business empire. The sale of 60% of the shares in Kantar was completed in December 2019. $ 1.9bn was used to reduce WPP's debt, and $ 1.2bn

336-654: A race to acquire Grey Global, the seventh-largest advertising agency at the time, for approximately US$ 1.3 billion. In late 2005  ( 2005 ) , James R. Heekin III became chief executive officer of Grey Worldwide, Grey Global Group's traditional advertising agency . On January 1, 2007  ( 2007-01-01 ) , he became chairman and chief executive officer of Grey Group, the renamed agency holding company. He reports to Martin Sorrell , chief executive officer of WPP Group. Grey Group, Grey Advertising New York and G2 moved to

378-451: A statement of remorse for their misuse of the "experimental" blog which they then ceased operating. The controversy and its fallout led to further discussions among the blogger community as well as the advertising industry on the ethical issues surrounding blogs being "operated" by fictional characters for the purposes of advertising without being clearly labeled as such, and the extent to which those blogs should be allowed to participate in

420-476: A television commercial in which two fictional towns, Villarriba and Villabajo , compete for the best paella at their popular fiestas. The commercial was soon dubbed into other languages and used in markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Portugal and Greece, modifying the detergent bottle with the corresponding local one. The advertising campaign has been renewed many times over the years, it

462-404: Is a WPP-owned production company. WPP's shopper marketing promotions company is PEP, LLC (formerly Promotion Execution Partners). WPP-owned brand consultancies include Superunion (a combination of Brand Union , Lambie-Nairn , and three other brand consulting businesses) and Landor . In 2005 advertising agency Cohn & Wolfe (later merged into WPP) was contracted by Reckitt to operate

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504-508: Is considered the world's biggest advertising agency group. WPP focuses on communications, experience, commerce, and technology. Headquartered in London, England, WPP has approximately 130,000 employees throughout its portfolio of businesses across more than 100 countries, as of 2018. WPP's notable advertising agency company holdings include Grey , Ogilvy , VMLY&R , and Wunderman Thompson . The XM Gravity Indonesia subsidiary company

546-554: Is one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside Publicis , The Interpublic Group of Companies , and Omnicom Group . WPP has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange , and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . On 14 April 2018, Martin Sorrell retired 33 years after founding the company, following allegations of bullying and sexual indescretions, and Roberto Quarta was appointed chairman . Mark Read

588-612: The Ministry of Information and Communications for advertising products on YouTube and Facebook in a manner which breached Vietnam's strict laws on cross-border advertising. The legislation is designed to combat offensive material which is intended to damage the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Government of Vietnam . WPP had committed various advertising violations, including inserting advertisements into intervals in

630-454: The world record for the greatest number of moving image cameras used in a single shot. In 2009, the firm's London office developed a world record-setting campaign for Toshiba titled Space Chair . The minute-long ad featured the launch of an armchair into near space attached to a weather balloon at an altitude of 29,952 metres (98,268 ft)—making it the highest-altitude television commercial that had ever been filmed. In 2010, Grey

672-620: The 1970s, Grey was responsible for several popular ad campaigns including Star Wars toys for Kenner , aspirin and toothpaste for SmithKline , and Stove Top Stuffing for Kraft General Foods . In 1973, Strauss died of a heart attack. Through the 1960s and 1970s, Grey continued to acquire major accounts, and grew into related communication fields. In 1970  ( 1970 ) , Meyer became chief executive officer and would remain in that position for 36 years. In 2000  ( 2000 ) , Grey Advertising became Grey Global Group. On March 7, 2005  ( 2005-03-07 ) , WPP Group beat out Havas in

714-947: The Chinese drama series Flight to You which depicted the disputed U-shaped line . LendingTree LendingTree, Inc. is an online lending marketplace, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina . The business platform allows potential borrowers to connect with multiple loan operators to find optimal terms for loans , credit cards, deposit accounts, insurance, etc. LendingTree allows borrowers to shop and compare competitive rates and terms across an array of financial products. Other additional services include financing tools, comparative loan searches and borrowing information. After graduating from Bucknell University , Doug Lebda went to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Pittsburgh as an auditor and consultant. During

756-924: The Mediterranean Sea. After it was debunked by developers, the Apple Store pulled the app on the same day it was awarded a Bronze Lion at the Cannes Lions festival . WPP Group WPP plc is a British multinational communications , advertising , public relations , technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London , England. It is the world's largest advertising company, as of 2023. WPP plc owns many companies, which include advertising, public relations, media, and market research networks such as AKQA , BCW , CMI Media Group, Essence Global , Finsbury , Grey , Hill & Knowlton , Mindshare , Ogilvy , Wavemaker , and VML . It

798-615: The Tree.com umbrella to focus on its core brand, LendingTree, which incorporated business loans, personal loans, debt consolidation, free credit scores, and student loans along with its core mortgage products home loans, mortgage refinance, and home equity. Since 2019, LendingTree has served as the official name sponsor of the annual college football bowl played in Mobile, Alabama , the LendingTree Bowl . In 2009, LendingTree acquired

840-607: The US. Many of WPP's constituent agencies use Microsoft Windows , and the organisation was among those hit by the 2017 cyberattacks on Ukraine , with some staff's computer access limited to webmail only as much as ten days later. WPP merged Burson-Marsteller with Cohn & Wolfe to become BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) in February 2018. In April 2018, Martin Sorrell retired after 33 years, following allegations of personal misconduct and misuse of company assets. Sorrell has denied

882-409: The ability to directly advertise on tech platforms, and competition with consultancies. While WPP had previously outperformed other companies in the industry, its growth slowed starting in 2017 and its market value dropped in 2018. Critics said WPP needed to become "nimbler" and "leaner". At the time, many WPP agencies operated mostly independently and competed for accounts. In late 2018, Read said

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924-515: The agency's global CEO, who previously worked at Havas. She is the sixth CEO in Grey history and the first woman to attain the role. In 1956, Grey co-founder Arthur C. Fatt wrote the longstanding Greyhound Lines catchphrase " Leave the driving to us ." In 1991, Grey Spain conceived for Procter & Gamble an advertising campaign for its Fairy dishwashing liquid for the Spanish market focused on

966-410: The allegations. Chairman Roberto Quarta was temporarily named executive chairman. In September 2018, Mark Read, who was the global CEO of Wunderman, was named CEO. In the late 2010s, the advertising industry faced significant challenges. Changes in the industry landscape included financial pressure on global clients, in particular fast-moving consumer goods clients, companies taking work in-house,

1008-467: The color of their skin, you're voting for the wrong reasons." In November 2008, the firm began working with Toshiba to advertise its high-definition television upscaling technology. Its first ad, Time Sculpture , was a British television and cinema advertisement which comprised a collection of interacting movement loops sequenced into a single shot. The commercial was based on a video art proposal by director Mitch Stratten . Time Sculpture holds

1050-522: The company had grown "unwieldy with too much duplication". He instituted a plan to reposition WPP as a "creative transformation company" and make its offer simpler. Read emphasized the importance of technology and also merged several WPP agencies: J. Walter Thompson merged with Wunderman to create Wunderman Thompson and Y&R merged with VML to create VMLY&R. Within Read's first year as CEO, he trimmed WPP by selling more than 30 subsidiaries, including

1092-707: The company paid £27m in UK corporation tax, compared to what the newspaper "might expect" based on reports of the firm making 15% of its profit in the UK, of around £126m. In 2012, the Indian broadcasting NDTV filed a lawsuit against Television Audience Measurement (TAM), a joint venture of the former competitors Nielsen and Kantar Media Research which for years has provided the only TV audience measurement system in India. The lawsuit alleged that viewership data were manipulated in favor of broadcasters willing to provide bribes. WPP Plc

1134-479: The firm debuted a self-funded political ad depicting candidates Barack Obama and John McCain with inverted skin tones and the text "LET THE ISSUES BE THE ISSUE." The campaign was rolled-out both digitally and via newspaper ads and posters hung around New York City. According to creative director Tor Myhren, it was "a non-partisan image. We wanted to address the race issue straight on. And it cuts both ways; if you're hopping on either candidate's bandwagon solely due to

1176-466: The firm went public, trading on the Nasdaq exchange, and the firm expanded into the use of psychographics (the analysis of consumer lifestyles). In 1966, Grey became one of the top 10 agencies in the U.S. In 1967, Strauss was named chief executive officer and chairman , and Edward H. Meyer was named president. In 1969, Strauss was named chairman In 1970, Meyer was named chief executive officer. In

1218-502: The greater blogosphere . With a number of shareholder revolts over executive pay having already happened at other public companies' AGMs earlier in the year, the media coverage of Martin Sorrell 's intended £12.93m compensation package drew increasing public attention in 2012. The result was a 59.52% shareholder vote to reject the resolution. It has been reported that WPP goes to great lengths to lower its own corporate tax bill. The Guardian reported that between 2003 and 2009

1260-473: The healthcare advertising, digital-marketing, online shopping, digital media, data management, retail and corporate consultancy, and sports-marketing industries. This included the 1999 acquisition of Lambie-Nairn. In 1998, WPP formed an alliance with Asatsu-DK Inc. of Japan. In May 2000, WPP agreed to acquire the United States–based Young & Rubicam Group for $ 5.7 billion, in what was at

1302-466: The onset of the 2008–2012 global recession . In June 2012, WPP agreed to acquire the digital advertising agency AKQA for US$ 540 million. In November 2015, WPP agreed to acquire a majority stake in Essence , a global digital agency. In November 2016, WPP announced it will be acquiring PEP, LLC, a project management and procurement company that oversees shopper marketing promotions for clients, in

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1344-468: The process of purchasing his first home via a mortgage , he found the process of comparing numerous resources time-consuming. Lebda sought a better way to improve this process in the marketplace. Lebda subsequently started CreditSource USA in late 1996; a year later the new company was rebranded as LendingTree. In 1998, LendingTree was launched online. LendingTree went through an initial public offering (IPO) on February 15, 2000. In May 2003, LendingTree

1386-517: The time Scotland's largest design and advertising company. In the same year (1987), the company acquired J. Walter Thompson (including JWT , Hill & Knowlton , and MRB Group) for $ 566m. The company was listed on the NASDAQ in 1988 (and later switched its secondary listing to the NYSE). In 1989, it acquired Ogilvy Group for $ 864m. WPP's acquisitions continued into the 1990s, when WPP bought firms in

1428-518: The time the largest ever takeover in the advertising sector. The takeover made WPP the largest advertising company in the world measured by billings and revenue, overtaking Omnicom Group and Interpublic . In the 2000s, WPP Digital was created to develop the group's digital capabilities. In October 2008, WPP acquired market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres for £1.6 billion. During 2009 WPP reduced its workforce by around 14,000 employees, or 12.3% of its then total staff numbers, in response to

1470-602: The wall of its original quarters, changing to Grey Advertising in 1925. In 1956  ( 1956 ) , Grey acquired its first major client, Procter & Gamble . In 1961, billings reached $ 59 million and in the same year, Herbert D. Strauss was named president and the firm expanded domestically and internationally. In 1961, the firm opened an office in Los Angeles, and in 1962 the firm opened an office in London and in 1963 in Japan. In 1964, billings reached $ 100 million. In 1965,

1512-533: Was acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp , former owner of Ticketmaster , Home Shopping Network and Match.com . In 2004, LendingTree acquired HomeLoanCenter.com and formed LendingTree Loans. After five years, LendingTree spun off from IAC to join newly established Tree.com, Inc. Tree.com was the parent company of several brands and businesses in the financial services and real estate industries including LendingTree.com; GetSmart.com; DegreeTree.com; LendingTreeAutos.com; and DoneRight.com. In 2015, LendingTree disassembled

1554-566: Was appointed CEO in September 2018. The company was founded as Wire and Plastic Products plc to manufacture wire shopping baskets in 1971. In 1985 Martin Sorrell and Preston Rabl , searching for a listed company through which to build a worldwide marketing services company, bought a controlling stake. In 1986, WPP became the parent company of Picquotware, a manufacturer of teapots and jugs, based in Northampton . In November 1987

1596-455: Was expanded to other products of the brand and it has even had local versions in other countries. In 2016, Procter & Gamble –which is one of the largest advertisers in Spain– chose Villarriba and Villabajo as their best advertising campaign ever in the country given its popularity and excellent brand positioning results. During the final weeks of the 2008 United States presidential election ,

1638-406: Was founded in 2008. WPP's digital company holdings include AKQA . WPP's public relations and public affairs company holdings include Hill+Knowlton Strategies , BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) , and Ogilvy. WPP's media investment management company holdings include GroupM, Mindshare , Wavemaker and Essence . WPP's research insight and consulting companies include Kantar . Hogarth Worldwide

1680-507: Was listed among the defendants as the holding group of Kantar and IMRB. The lawsuit was dismissed in its entirety on 4 March 2013. WPP handles the accounts of many major oil companies. Asked by Reuters to disclose their client list, WPP refused to do so. WPP has defended its work for fossil fuel companies. Lawsuits have alleged that four of WPP's advertisement campaigns for fossil fuel companies have been misleading or entailed greenwashing . WPP has been fined on three occasions by

1722-456: Was listed on Fast Company ' s "50 Most Innovative Companies". In 2010, it was added to Advertising Age ' s "Agency A-List". In 2006, Grey was awarded 12 "Spots of the Week" by Ad Age , which placed it second highest overall. In 2016, Grey for Good, Grey Group's philanthropic communications division, created a hoax app that claimed to use crowdsourcing to help the refugee crisis in

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1764-510: Was returned to shareholders. In July 2022, WPP acquired Corebiz, a Latin American ecommerce agency, for an undisclosed amount. In July 2024, WPP announced the appointment of former BT Group chief Philip Jansen as its chairman succeeding Roberto Quarta. Jansen is set to take over from Quarta as chairman on 1 January 2025. WPP is a large holding company involved in communications, advertising, public relations, and other businesses. It

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