 Second logo used for the Kaplan Thaler group, until the merger with another agency in 2015 when the name changed | |
| Industry | Advertising |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Successor | Publicis New York |
The Kaplan Thaler Group was an American advertising agency that opened in 1997, [1] [2] and created ad campaigns, including the Aflac Duck. The company began with six people in a small apartment. In July 2012, the Kaplan Thaler Group merged with Publicis New York.
The Kaplan Thaler Group was an American advertising agency. It began as a small boutique agency out of the founder's home in Chelsea, Manhattan. The Kaplan Thaler Group began with six employees on the 700 square feet (65 m2) third floor of the brownstone where Linda Kaplan Thaler lived on 19th Street in Chelsea. [3] Linda Kaplan Thaler served as CEO and Chief Creative Officer of the Kaplan Thaler Group since founding the agency in 1997. [2]
Over a period of 15 years, the Kaplan Thaler Group grew "from a startup to a company with more than $1 billion in billings." [4] The agency created the Aflac duck, [5] Herbal Essences Totally Organic Experience, [6] Continental Airlines "Work Hard. Fly Right.", and Swiffer Sweeper campaigns. [7]
In 2002, the advertising agency N. W. Ayer & Son, which called itself the oldest advertising agency, retired its name and merged with Kaplan Thaler Group, which served Ayer's client Continental Airlines. [8] Also in 2002, the advertising agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) was acquired by French firm Publicis and closed; [9] longtime client Procter & Gamble shifted its Dawn and Swiffer brands from defunct D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles to Kaplan, adding roughly $80 million in U.S. billings. [7]
On July 12, 2012, the Kaplan Thaler Group merged with Publicis New York, part of French multinational Publicis. The resulting company was called Publicis Kaplan Thaler. [10] In June 2015, Publicis New York ended the use of the name "Kaplan Thaler". [11]
Aflac Incorporated is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. It was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., it underwrites a wide range of insurance policies, but is perhaps more known for its payroll deduction insurance coverage, which pays cash benefits when a policyholder has a covered accident or illness. The company states it "provides financial protection to more than 50 million people worldwide".
Saatchi and Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency group was known as Saatchi and Saatchi PLC from 1976 to 1994, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange until 2000 and, for a time, was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 2000, the group was acquired by the Publicis Groupe. In 2005, the group went private.
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.
DDB Worldwide Communications Group LLC, known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. The international advertising networks Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper merged their worldwide agency operations to become DDB Needham in 1986. At that same time the owners of Doyle Dane Bernbach, Needham Harper and BBDO merged their shareholdings to form the US listed holding company Omnicom. In 1996, DDB Needham became known as DDB Worldwide.
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N. W. Ayer & Son was a Philadelphia advertising agency founded in 1869. It called itself the oldest advertising agency in the United States. Named by Francis Ayer after his father N. W. Ayer, it ventured into advertising in 1884. It created a number of memorable slogans for firms such as De Beers, AT&T and the U.S. Army. The company started to decline in the 1960s and, after a series of mergers, closed in 2002 with its assets sold to the Publicis Groupe.
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Publicis New York is an American advertising agency based in New York City. It was founded in 1993 and has 2,000 employees with offices in New York, Seattle, Toronto, and Montreal. Publicis acquired the Kaplan Thaler Group in 2012. The agency created the Aflac duck, Herbal Essences Totally Organic Experience, Continental Airlines "Work Hard. Fly Right.", and Swiffer Sweeper campaigns.
Benton & Bowles (B&B) was a New York–based advertising agency founded by William Benton and Chester Bowles in 1929. One of the oldest agencies in the United States, and frequently one of the 10 largest, it merged with D'Arcy-MacManus Masius to become D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in 1985, and continued business until a reorganization in 2002.
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Robin Koval is a New York Times best-selling author and CEO and president of Truth Initiative , a nonprofit tobacco control organization best known for its Truth youth smoking prevention campaign. Koval also co-founded The Kaplan Thaler Group and later served as the CEO of Publicis Kaplan Thaler, New York’s fifth largest advertising agency through November 2013.
Linda Kaplan Thaler is an American advertiser and author. She is currently the CEO & President of Kaplan Thaler Productions. As an advertiser she helped create advertising campaigns that are well known in American culture including the Aflac duck and the “Yes, Yes, Yes” campaign for Clairol Herbal Essence. She has authored and composed jingles, including “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up, I’m a Toys "R" Us Kid,” and “Kodak Moments". She is a motivational speaker at businesses and colleges.
Robert Senior is the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, a position he has held since January 2015. Founded in 1970, Saatchi & Saatchi is one of the world’s leading advertising agencies, and part of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications group.
Michael "Jeff" Charney is an American executive who served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of companies such as Aflac, Progressive, and QVC. In the advertising community, he is known for developing campaigns featuring company brand icons such as Progressive's Flo and Dr. Rick and the Aflac Duck. He has won several awards such as Adweek's the Marketer of the Year and Brand Genius award, Ad Age's Creativity 50 and he was ranked #35 on Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in 2012.