Celebrating 90 Years of Y&R

A HISTORY OF INNOVATION 

Y&R is responsible for many of the innovations in the industry, among them: 

- The first agency founded by a creative 

- the first agency to create a Research Department to better understand the consumer (led by George Gallup) 

-  the agency that counseled Henry Luce on the startup of LIFE Magazine and gave the first ad 

- the agency that revitalized the Jell-O brand in the 1930’s through a radio show written and produced by Y&R and starring an unknown comedian, Jack Benny 

- the agency that led the War Advertising Council, the precursor for the Advertising Council 

- the first agency to produce a color commercial (for Jell-O) 

- the first agency to create a “demo” ad 

- the first agency to fully produce TV from script to embedded commercials 

- the first agency to create the TV genre of soap operas through organized sponsorship 

- the first agency to run a ketchup ad in the fashion magazine Vogue 

- the first agency to insert a phonograph record in a magazine 

- the first agency to provide a network news department with the funding that permitted them to broadcast news 

- the first agency to buy media on all three networks in the US on one night 

- the first agency to create integrated communications through its Whole Egg philosophy 

- the first agency to set up shop in China and then in the former Soviet Union 

- the first agency to create what remains the world’s largest global database on consumer brand perceptions (BrandAsset Valuator) 

- the first agency to create a website for a client (the USPS) 

- the first agency to produce a webcast for Molson Ice 

- the first agency to use wireless text messaging integrated into a TV show, asking viewers to use their phones to vote for their favorite American Idol. 

- the first agency to win an Emmy for advertising 

- the first agency to embed an innovation incubator for startup companies at the agency