Richards Industries history

1953: Stan Richards begins doing freelance design work in Dallas.

His unconventional work began to catch on with area ad agencies, so that after two years he had won a number of local awards for his work and had established a solid reputation. It was at this point, in 1954, that the Bloom Agency offered to make him creative director at a salary of $12,000 a year, an amount that Richards could not resist.

Stan Richards & Associates Formed in 1955

30, is reminiscent of a 1961 transaction in which Richards bought a valve-making subsidiary from his former employer, the Dover Corp.

He then spent three years at IBM as a systems manager before joining Leo Burnett Worldwide, one of the world's largest advertising agencies, in 1966.

The result was a vintage-looking newsreel film within a film sequence that adorned what would garner four Academy Awards in 1970--the only such film work the company would ever perform.

In 1974, A.J. stepped down as president, but always remained an entrepreneur at heart while continuously showing encouragement to his sons.

Stan Richards & Associates was a company of some two dozen designers and writers in 1975 when Richards decided to change the name of the company in order to better acknowledge the contributions of his team.

In 1976 Richards, whose business was thriving, made the risky decision to turn The Richards Group into a full-service advertising agency, in effect going into business against its clients.

Gary became president and CEO in 1980 and took our company through the next period of expansion.

Richards started the Metalworking Group with an acquisition in 1981, building it gradually by acquiring other small sheet-metal shops and expanding from sheet-metal work to other kinds of metal fabricating.

Richard Polselli worked in the oil business for ten years before he founded Richard’s Oil Company in 1982.

1985: Motel 6 is signed as a client.

In 1988, while other area ad agencies were struggling to retain clients, The Richards Group added some $35 million in new business.

Major Richards' clients included Corona, The Home Depot, Nokia, Chick-fil-A, and Fruit of the Loom. It was again named agency of the year, and early in 1989 topped the benchmark $100 million level in annual billings.

The company relocated to Portland, Oregon in 1994, an environment where it could afford larger facilities to handle its steady growth.

Today, REG staff still does energy and sales tax audits and utility consulting work, like Frank did back in 1995, but our three major emphases have become Electric Purchasing, Lighting Retrofits and PJM Demand Response Programs.

So the whole REAP Group began enjoying deregulation savings in January, 1999, long before many businesses even knew about shopping for electricity.

vintage Richards Energy logo circa 2000

In 2001 the company launched a separate branding enterprise, a unit called Spherical (named after its trademarked Spherical branding approach, refined after many years of application), which was intended to pursue clients that might not be seeking its advertising services.

Gross Billings: $600 million (2002 est.)

In the first few months of 2003 The Richards Group added another six clients, including Red Roof Inns and TV Guide.