Grey Group history

Needing extra help, Valenstein hired 17-year-old Arthur Fatt as an office boy in 1921.

Grey placed its first national advertisement in the August 1926 issue of the Ladies Home Journal.

In 1946, Grey acquired its first packaged goods client, the Mennen Company.

1956: Grey begins its relationship with Procter & Gamble.

In 1959 Grey opened its first international office, in Montreal.

In 1962, the company opened an office in Los Angeles called Grey-Western Division.

In August 1965 Grey became the fourth national advertising agency to offer stock to the public, selling 290,000 shares in the company at $19.50 a piece.

By 1967, its 50th year in business, Grey Advertising boasted $221 million in billings.

The company had not been through a reorganization since 1970--the year Edward Meyer was elected CEO. Grey was not alone in its restructuring.

Grey had landed a $16 million small car account from the Ford Motor Company in August 1971, and followed this up by acquiring business from the Singer Company, Calgon Corporation, Carter-Wallace, and General Electric.

In 1972, Grey won the Goodrich Tire Company's $6 million a year passenger car tire account with a creative proposal focusing on the new technology involved in radial tires.

Building on this stint of new business, Grey opened foreign offices in South Africa and Brazil in 1973, and also established its Grey Entertainment & Media subsidiary to handle communications and entertainment advertising.

In 1974, Grey won a $16.5 million Navy recruiting account from the United States government, which it subsequently lost in the next year.

1976: Grey forms a joint venture with a Swiss advertising firm creating Steinman and Grey.

1980: Conahay & Lyon is purchased by Grey-2, forming a joint agency.

The company transferred its Chicago shop to a Swiss firm, and in November 1988, Grey sold for $38 million its LBS Communications (formerly Lexington Broadcast Service), a television syndicate whose high cash flow had made Grey ripe for takeover.

By 1991, the company had 188 offices in 40 countries.

Grey won $160 million in new business in 1994.

After a successful stint running Clairol at JWT, she came home to Grey to lead the global reinvention of Pantene in 1999 and went on to help create game-changing campaigns, from Ellen DeGeneres for CoverGirl to transgender model Tracey Norman for Clairol.

2000: Grey Advertising creates Grey Global Group as a holding company; Grey Worldwide becomes its advertising unit.

Grey's revenue was $1.3 billion in 2003, but labor costs and real estate expenditures took their toll on profit margins.

Owen Dougherty has been Chief Communications Officer of Grey Group since 2006.

Michael joined Grey in 2007 and helped win over $2 billion of new client marketing investment on the way to three “Agency of the Year” accolades.

Bob Oates joined WPP's Grey Group in 2008 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

In 2010, after winning South Africa’s first Film Gold Lion in 11 years, she was appointed to the 15-member Ogilvy Worldwide Creative Council.

Yukiko joined GREY Tokyo in 2011 as Group Account Director to lead P&G Fabric and Home Care accounts including Joy, Febreze, Bold and Lenor/Lenor Happiness.

Marco came to Grey after his Peruvian agency, Circus, was acquired by Grey/WPP in 2013, becoming CEO of Grey Circus for six years.

Jonathan, who joined Grey in 2015, has been charged with evolving our Strategy Group, one that is built for tomorrow and delivers breakthrough innovation.

In 2018, Debby announced a vision for a new innovation model, including investing 75% of Grey’s resources and talent into creativity, a commitment that will provide clients with the highest creative value.