Grey Global Group
Grey Global Group is a
New York City-based global
advertising and
marketing agency.
A unit of communications conglomerate
WPP Group, Grey provides a full range of
direct marketing,
market research,
public relations, interactive, advertising and promotional communication services through its subsidiaries Ericsson Fina, G WHIZ Entertainment Inc., G2 Worldwide, GCI Group, Grey Direct, Grey Healthcare Group, J. Brown Agency and WING Latino Group, all of which are connected by its Grey Worldwide network.
Founded in
1917 by
Larry Valenstein, Grey Global began as a direct marketing company named Grey Studios, changing to Grey Advertising in
1925.
In
1956, Grey acquired its first major client in the form of
Procter & Gamble. Through the
1960s and
1970s, Grey continued to acquire big name clients and grow its presence into other communication fields.
In 2001 and 2002, Grey went through a number of corporate restructurings, one of which was recounted in
"The Advertising Creed," an article in the New York Press.
On
March 7, 2005, WPP Group beat out
Havas in a race to acquire Grey Global, which was the seventh largest advertising agency at the time for a buyout of approximately 1.3 billion
USD.
