An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally independent of the client; it may be an internal department or agency that provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services, or an outside firm. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies promotions for its clients, which may include sales as well.
WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It was the world's largest advertising company, as of 2019. 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 Strategies, Mindshare, Ogilvy, Wavemaker, Wunderman Thompson, and VMLY&R. It 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.
Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City agency that was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy.
Havas Creative, formerly known as Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG, is a French advertising agency. It is one of the largest integrated marketing communications agencies in the world, made up of 316 offices located in 75 countries. The firm provides advertising, marketing, and corporate communications services.
Sir Martin Stuart Sorrell is a British businessman and the founder of WPP plc, the world's largest advertising and PR group, both by revenue and the number of staff. Upon being ousted in April 2018, Sorrell was the longest-serving chief executive of a FTSE 100 company.
J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merged J. Walter Thompson with fellow agency Wunderman to form Wunderman Thompson. In October 2023, WPP announced yet another merger in which Wunderman Thompson, along with another group agency VMLY&R, would cease to exist and create a new combined entity named VML. This is to be effective January 1, 2024.
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world, it is headquartered in Paris.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry.
Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
Wunderman Thompson is a New York–based global marketing communications agency with 200 offices in 90 markets. It is part of international advertising group WPP Group. Wunderman Thompson was formed in 2018, when parent WPP merged agencies J. Walter Thompson and Wunderman. On October 17, 2023, WPP announced that Wunderman Thompson is being merged into VMLY&R.
Wavemaker is the second largest media agency network in the world, with domestic and international clients such as Vodafone, L'Oréal, IKEA, Paramount Pictures, Chanel, GE, Xerox, Colgate-Palmolive, Chevron, Beiersdorf, Tiffany, Huawei, and Mondelēz International. Wavemaker has global billings of over US$38 billion and it is part of GroupM and WPP plc.
Blue State Digital is an adtech that specializes in online fundraising, and campaign consultancy. The company was founded by 4 former staffers of the Howard Dean 2004 presidential campaign. The company became notable after providing digital strategy and technology services for the 2008 and 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaigns.
Hogarth Worldwide is a WPP-owned global company that provides marketing Implementation services, including all-channel production and language services to blue-chip international companies. Hogarth has featured in the Televisual poll of top post-production houses.
VMLY&R is an American marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the merger of VML, founded in 1992, and Y&R , founded in 1923. It is a subsidiary of WPP plc multinational advertising and public relations holding company.
"Global Anthem" was an American television commercial created by advertising agency JWT Detroit for Ford Motor Company (FMC) in 1999. It was Ford's first ever global advertising campaign. At the time, the commercial was believed to be the world's biggest advertisement, one of the largest single commercial productions in US advertising history, and one of the most expensive. In media terms, it was the most widespread use of one commercial at one time by a giant advertiser. Initially, a single two-minute version aired in almost every country in the world simultaneously at 9pm on November 1, 1999, reaching an estimated one billion people, 300 million households, and 80% of the world's viewing population. It was recorded as the world's first global media roadblock in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999.
The advertising industry is the global industry of public relations and marketing companies, media services, and advertising agencies. Several large advertising agencies, including WPP plc, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic and Dentsu, are among the industry's largest. It is a global, multibillion-dollar business that connects manufacturers and consumers. The industry ranges from nonprofit organizations to Fortune 500 companies.
Essence is a global data and measurement-driven full service agency. The agency has 20 offices in 12 countries and a staff of approximately 1,900. Essence manages over $4B in annualized media spend globally, with clients such as Google, The Financial Times, Target, NBCUniversal, BP, FrieslandCampina, L’Oreal and Tesco Mobile. In 2015 Essence became majority owned by WPP, and a part of GroupM, the WPP media investment management operation. Essence specializes in strategy, digital marketing, digital creative, media planning and buying, mobile advertising and analytics. Kyoko Matsushita has taken over from Christian Juhl as CEO from 1 October 2019, Juhl has moved to be CEO of GroupM.
Wunderman was a New York City-based global digital agency. It was part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of international advertising group WPP Group.
UniWorld Group, Inc., branded as UWG, is a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Brooklyn, New York with satellite offices in Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles. It is the longest-standing multicultural ad agency in the United States, founded in 1969. In 2014, the company rebranded itself as UWG.
GroupM is a U.S based media investment group of the multinational Holding company WPP plc. GroupM is the world's largest media buying agency, as of 2023.
