The Y&R name retires for good after 100 years—a look back at the agency’s highlights

With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson announced last week, three legacy agency names—J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam and Wunderman—disappear into advertising history. We look at the highlights of each, in this installment, Young & Rubicam, renowned for such campaigns as Steinway’s “The Instrument of the Immortals” and Lay’s “You can eat a million of them, but you can’t eat just one.” 1923: Young & Rubicam is founded in Philadelphia by account executive John Orr Young and copywriter Raymond Rubicam. 1926: Y&R moves its headquarters to New York, occupying the eighth floor of 285 Madison Avenue, at the request of client Postum Co. 1934: Young retires. 1944: Rubicam retires to Arizona, leaving the agency in the hands of Creative Director George Gribbin. Unhindered by the Great Depression and World War II, Y&R becomes the second-largest ad agency in the country. 1951: Gribbin is instrumental in ushering Y&R into a creative revolution. The agency reaches $100 million in billings; over the next decade, billings double to $212 million. 1967: Y&R creates Armour hot dog’s iconic jingle. (Below, an Armour commercial.) 1970: During the worldwide economic recession, Ed Ney takes over as Y&R’s chairman-CEO, challenged with salvaging the floundering agency. Ney cuts a third of the New York office staff and drops accounts such as Bristol-Myers, which had been a client for more than 25 years. Alex Kroll becomes creative director, and Alexander Brody leads international operations. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs 1973: Y&R agrees to an exchange of stock with Sudler & Hennessey, which handled $30 million in medical advertising. A similar merger is decided later in the year with direct response agency Wunderman, Ricotta & Kline, bringing in an additional $30 million. The agency adopts the “Whole Egg” strategy as a branded integrated communications effort. 1975: The agency creates the famous “I am Stuck on Band-Aid” campaign. Barry Manilow wrote the jingle for the Johnson & Johnson brand, and the spot starred Teri Garr and John Travolta. 1979: In addition to acquiring a series of smaller ad shops, Ney arranges a merger with Marsteller, integrating public relations into Y&R’s advertising and marketing offerings. Brody increases the agency’s presence abroad, breaking political barriers with an office in Hungary. Kroll reinvigorates the shop as an “idea” agency, procuring $77 million in new business, including the Lincoln-Mercury account. 1985: Ney resigns and names Kroll his successor. Y&R becomes the largest independent advertising company in the world, usurping Dentsu, which had held the position since 1973. 1987: Amid a national recession and accusations of bribery relating to a Jamaican Tourism account, Y&R loses the momentum it had gained in the 1980s. Employee layoffs and account losses further hamper its success. 1993: Kroll steps down, and Peter Georgescu takes the helm, shifting the agency’s focus from offices focused on certain geographies to a client service-oriented agency. 1994: Y&R wins the $9 million Eastern Airlines account from Benton & Bowles. (Below, one of its “Wings of Man” spots.) Ad Age World’s Largest Advertisers 2023 Ad spending, rankings and analysis for the top 100 advertisers Click here 1995: Y&R wins $500 million in new business in the U.S. alone, winning Viacom’s Showtime Networks account, Dimetapp and KeyCorp. 1996: Y&R wins Blockbuster Video’s $100 million account. 1997: Linda Srere becomes president and CEO, the first woman to hold the post. The agency restructures its media operations through an acquisition of Media Edge and picks up notable accounts including U.S. Army, Sony, Kellogg and AT&T. 1998: Y&R’s billings nearly double between 1994 and 1997, reaching $12 billion a year. The agency issues an initial public offering, opening more than $3 higher than the initial price of $25 a share. 2000: Y&R is acquired by WPP Group for $4.7 billion. At the time, it was the largest deal in advertising history and briefly made WPP the world’s largest advertising company. 2001: The agency hits another slump as Kentucky Fried Chicken, a client since 1976, pulls its creative business. The agency also loses Swedish wireless communications company Ericsson, H&R Block and Kraft Foods’ $50 million Jell-O account, which had been a client since 1926. (Below, a classic Y&R Jell-O ad.) 2003: WPP sees that change is needed and appoints Ann Fudge, a former division head at Kraft Foods, chief executive of Y&R. The appointment made her one of the few African-American female CEOs in the U.S. By the end of the year, the agency has global revenue of $517.1 million, up 17% from the previous year. 2006: Y&R’s integrated communications structure helps expand relationships with companies including ChevronTexaco for global advertising and marketing efforts. Its portfolio also includes Accenture, Colgate, MetLife and Xerox. 2008: The agency helps Lay’s dare people to eat just one. (Below, a Lay’s commercial.) 2014: Y&R opens a new office in New York. 2018: WPP announces the merger of Y&R with Kansas City, Missouri-based VML, naming the combined agency VMLY&R. 2023: WPP announces plans to merge VMLY&R with Wunderman Thompson, retiring the Y&R name after 100 years in the industry. The new entity is set to be operational as of Jan. 1, 2024.

The Y&R name retires for good after 100 years—a look back at the agency’s highlights

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