citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . july 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message y & r type subsidiary industry integrated marketing communications founded philadelphia pennsylvania usa 1923 headquarters 3 columbus circle new york city key people david sable ceo peter law gisiko cfo tony granger cco number of employees 16 000 2008 parent wpp plc website www.yr.com y & r originally young & rubicam is a marketing and communications company specializing in advertising digital and social media sales promotion direct marketing and brand identity consulting . contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 young & rubicam advertising 2.2 vml 2.3 the bravo group and kang & lee 2.4 wunderman 2.5 knowledgebase marketing 2.6 burson marsteller 2.7 bav consulting 2.8 cohn & wolfe 2.9 robinson lerer & montgomery 2.10 landor associates 2.11 sudler & hennessey 2.12 taxi 2.13 trivia 2.14 controversy 3 notable employees 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1923 john orr young and raymond rubicam established a small advertising agency in philadelphia . the company moved to new york in 1926 as a condition of securing a contract with the newly formed jell o company . 1 soon the company moved into offices at 285 madison avenue which remained the company s location for 87 years . 1 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 bought 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 . citation needed in the 1990s y & r was charged with bribery related to a jamaican 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 . operations edit this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . october 2012 the unsourced parts of these summaries are extracted from the 2000 y & r annual report . young & rubicam advertising edit young & rubicam advertising is one of the world s largest consumer advertising agencies . young & rubicam advertising ranks as the world s 10th largest advertising agency with revenues of approximately 907 million . 2 david sable is the global chairman and ceo tony granger is the global chief creative officer and peter law gisiko is the cfo of young & rubicam advertising . vml edit vml inc. 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 bogot colombia and vml in london . the bravo group and kang & lee edit 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 edit wunderman s headquarters is 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 coined the phrase direct marketing to describe the new type of advertising he was practicing . citation needed knowledgebase marketing edit kbm provides marketing services to businesses in targeted high growth industries . kbm delivers its business 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 edit this public relations company issues analysis crisis management consumer and business marketing and research corporate communications investor relations and public affairs advocacy . burson marsteller has its headquarters in new york and operates in the united states latin america the asia pacific region and europe . bav consulting edit bav consulting is a global consultancy offering services in corporate brand and marketing strategies and customer insights . john gerzema is the executive chairman and ceo of bav consulting . 3 cohn & wolfe edit cohn & wolfe 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 edit 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 edit landor associates 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 based in san francisco and operates in the americas asia pacific and australia europe the middle east and africa including multidisciplinary consulting and design studios in new york seattle mexico city hamburg london paris hong kong dubai and tokyo . sudler & hennessey edit sudler & hennessey is a healthcare communications firm that develops promotional and educational programs for a wide spectrum of healthcare companies . s & h creates advertising direct marketing and sales promotion programs for prescription drugs and over the counter medications . in addition s & h provides 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 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 has its headquarters in new york and operates in north america europe and the asia pacific region . taxi edit taxi is a marketing communications company that was founded in 1992 in montreal . the company has three locations in canada and 4 one in the united states . 5 services include integrated branding campaigns ; strategic planning ; creative ; and digital design print and broadcast production . 4 in 2009 taxi was awarded platinum status by deloitte based on six consecutive years among canada s 50 best managed companies . 6 in 2010 taxi was named agency of the decade by toronto based strategy magazine . 7 trivia edit the company is frequently cited in the amc television series mad men most notably in the season 5 premiere episode a little kiss which recounts an actual incident from may 1966 in which y & r employees poured water on and pitched water balloons at civil rights protestors on madison avenue . 8 the company young & rubicam is mentioned in the 1997 movie picture perfect starring jennifer aniston and jay mohr . jennifer aniston s kate boss kevin dunn mr. mercer commented when i got my first job at young and rubicam i told them i graduated first in my class . truth is i was lucky to graduate at all . controversy edit in may 2012 a controversial ad made for the argentine government by young & rubicam argentina aired . in the video an argentine olympic athlete is shown training in the falkland islands including running up the steps of a british war memorial . the video quickly went viral and caused offense in britain . the tagline was to compete on british soil we train on argentinian soil . y & r was quick to condemn the ad and released the following statement y & r s agency in argentina created an ad for the argentine government that has deeply offended many people in the uk and around the world . we strongly condemn this work and have asked the argentine government to pull the spot . while we don t believe it was ever the intention of the ad s creators to desecrate a war memorial they behaved in a manner that is unacceptable to our company . furthermore it is against our policy to be involved in anything that is politically motivated . in addition this spot was also offensive to the olympics spirit . whatever it was the creators set out to highlight what they produced is contrary to everything that we as a company stand for . we are deeply regretful for the pain this ad has caused and apologize to the many who have been rightly disturbed by it as have we . 9 10 in december 2013 mita diran a young copywriter died from overwork in a y & r office in indonesia . 11 she had been working for 30 hours straight and staying up by drinking energy drinks . notable employees edit fr d ric beigbeder copywriter roy eaton first black copywriter william e. forbes later a regent of the university of california edward n. ney ceo from 1970 to 1986 references edit a b y & r history . retrieved 7 sep 2014 . business profile at adbrands.net http bavconsulting.com our team a b toane carey november 2008 . taxi knockout . agency of the year . strategy magazine . retrieved 2008 11 01 . gianatasio david 2009 05 19 . taxi acquires dutch i shop . adweek . platinum club members . deloitte & touche llp . there s no stopping taxi . strategy . wilson michael march 28 2012 . on mad men an opening scene straight from page 1 . new york times . retrieved march 28 2012 . the plot behind the argentine olympics falklands political spot . en.mercopress.com . retrieved 1 april 2015 . argentina s olympic advert stirs row . http news.msn.co.nz worldnews 8773798 young indonesian copyrighter dead from overwork external links edit young & rubicam young & rubicam group young and rubicam inc. records of citizens for eisenhower dwight d. eisenhower presidential library v t e wpp divisions and subsidiaries advertising bates chi cohn & wolfe essence communications grey global group jwt digitaria ogilvy & mather ogilvy commonhealth asia pacific scholz & friends sudler & hennessey taxi tenthavenue candyspace forward joule tmarc vml wpp scangroup wunderman the united network young & rubicam burson marsteller media investment management groupm mediacom mec mindshare maxus tenthavenue shopper2buyer spafax kantar group graphic kantar added value kantar futures kantar health kantar imrb kantar media kantar media philippines kantar millward brown affectiva kantar retail kantar tns compete.com kantar vermeer kantar worldpanel lightspeed public relations & public affairs dewey