Young & Rubicam is Young Again: Global Content Giant's Renaissance

CANNES, France, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an ongoing strategy to enhance the creative reputation and overall business performance of venerable content giant Young & Rubicam, global chief creative officer Tony Granger and global chief executive Hamish McLennan have announced the agency's best performance in the history of the Y&R's participation in the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2010.  

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Just two years into the partnership between Granger and McLennan – who share and drive the agency's "turnaround" vision – Young & Rubicam culminates its week with 49 Lions total (up from 19 in 2009).

Young & Rubicam was named a Network of the Year (third place) as a result of its aggregated performance at the 2010 Cannes Lions. Y&R USA (13 Lions), United Kingdom (7 Lions), Tel Aviv (4 Lions) and Dubai (4 Lions) led the global network as the agency's most awarded offices, all helping on the path to achieving Granger and McLennan's vision of the agency's creative turnaround.

"It's been just over two years in Young & Rubicam's reinvention, and we're starting to see exciting results," said Granger. "I'm grateful for the talented team we've put in place across the network – their spirit and tenacity is inspirational. Their hard work is reflected in our day to day relationship with our clients, as well as our performance at Cannes and the other leading award shows."

Young & Rubicam's flagship New York office was named runner up for Agency of the Year, boasting a total of 13 Lions including its first ever Cyber Lion. It was also the only US-based agency to take home a Press Lion this year.

The agency was shortlisted for over 150 pieces of work from around its global network (compared to 32 in 2009).

McLennan said, "Our strategy of creatively re-invigorating Y&R is on course and has been a huge success thus far. We're incredibly excited for the path ahead."

Y&R's McLennan and Granger: Driving An Agency's Renaissance

Under the leadership of McLennan, Granger and the Y&R's global executive committee, the agency has seen strong new business success driven in part by the addition of such clients as Virgin Atlantic, Office Depot, Pirelli, LG and Bacardi. In BRIC markets, including China – where Y&R was the first western agency to launch – the office has turned the corner with the recent win of the massive GAP account. Y&R's Singapore office in June 2010 landed the prestigious Tiger Beer business. Key talent upgrades have been appointed in all major business hubs around the world.

Tony Granger: Known as Creative Turn-around Agent

Y&R's stellar Cannes performance comes on the heels of being awarded Agency Network of the Year for both the Art Director's Club (May 2010) and the New York Festivals (June 2010).

Under Granger's leadership at Saatchi & Saatchi, the agency became the International Agency of the Year at both Cannes and The Clio Awards in three years' time. It was also ranked the #2 Agency Worldwide by the prestigious Gunn Report.

Prior to Saatchi, Granger led a similar creative renaissance at Bozell New York, where it created memorable and awarded work for The New York Times, Bank of America, Datek, Fujitsu and Got Milk? Bozell was recognized as the most awarded agency in the US within 18 months.

To date, Granger has won more than 50 Cannes Lions, upwards of 1,000 industry awards and has served as president of several international advertising juries.

About Young & Rubicam

Young & Rubicam is one of the world's leading marketing communications companies.  Founded in 1923, Young & Rubicam was the first agency to be founded by a creative, Raymond Rubicam. Today, run by Global CEO Hamish McLennan and Global CCO Tony Granger, the agency's work spans the communications spectrum, including digital, viral, social and experiential marketing, to build brands that are irresistible to consumers.  

Young & Rubicam has 186 offices in 90 countries around the world.  Its clients are some of the world's most prestigious global corporations, including Accenture, Bacardi, Campbell's Soup Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Land Rover, LG, Xerox and Virgin Atlantic, to name a few. For more information, visit www.yr.com.

SOURCE Young & Rubicam