Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy (D-A-Y) was a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

firm established by

Pendleton Dudley Pendleton Dudley (September 8, 1876 – December 10, 1966) was an American journalist and public relations executive. Once considered the "dean of public relations", he is best known as the long-time outside publicity counsel to AT&T and as a f ...

, purportedly at the suggestion of

Ivy Lee Ivy Ledbetter Lee (July 16, 1877 – November 9, 1934) was an American publicity expert and a founder of modern public relations. Lee is best known for his public relations work with the Rockefeller Family. His first major client was the Penns ...

History

Founded in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1909 and originally named Pendleton Dudley and Associates, Dudley's company's masthead was changed to Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy in 1946 after Thomas D. Yutzy and George Anderson joined as partners. During the late 1960s Dudley, Anderson and Yutzy died, creating a leadership vacuum at the firm. In 1970, in the wake of declining business fortunes, sisters Barbara Hunter and Jean Schoonover bought the company. The two had been employed at the firm since shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During Hunter and Schoonover's first month of ownership, they discovered that male account executives at D-A-Y were being paid at the rate of $25,000 per year, while females had a base salary of $18,000. In 1983 Hunter and Schoonover sold D-A-Y to

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City a ...

. At the time of the firm's acquisition it was considered the world's oldest continually operating public relations firm. Ogilvy & Mather continued to operate D-A-Y as a separate division until 1988. Vilhjalmur Stefansson2

Clients and notable campaigns

D-A-Y was considered a pioneering company in public relations. Among its notable successes was helping to increase the annual consumption of bananas in the U.S. from 17.4 pounds to more than 22 pounds over a ten-year period by highlighting the health benefits of the fruit. It was also credited with the popularization of orange juice in the 1930s as part of a campaign for the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Citrus Commission, an effort for which the firm hired ''

Woman's Home Companion ''Woman's Home Companion'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, O ...

'' writer Marie Teitgen as the D-A-Y "Director of Home Economics." In 1927, to help promote increased meat consumption, the firm - at the behest of its client the

American Meat Institute The American Meat Institute (AMI) was the oldest and largest trade association representing the U.S. meat and poultry industry. In 2015, it was merged into the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). Overview Founded in 1906 in Chicago as the Amer ...

- financed a two-year all meat and water diet for

Vilhjalmur Stefansson Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 – August 26, 1962) was an Arctic explorer and ethnologist. He was born in Manitoba, Canada. Early life Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had ...

. In 1975 it was tasked with organizing commemorations for the two hundredth anniversary of the

capture of Fort Ticonderoga The capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred during the American Revolutionary War on May 10, 1775, when a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the fort's small British garrison. ...

. The celebration of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

centennial - which the firm was retained to organize - was called "the public relations triumph of 1983" by '' Inc.'' As with many PR agencies of the era, however, D-A-Y's work was not without controversy. Three weeks before the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, Dudley - on behalf of the Protective League of Property Owners - helped organize opposition to the mandatory installation of sprinklers in warehouses. Later, after World War II, it was revealed Dudley had worked as a middleman to funnel payments made by the ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' to

Lawrence Dennis Lawrence Dennis (December 25, 1893 – August 20, 1977) was a mixed-race American diplomat, consultant and author. He advocated fascism in America after the Great Depression, arguing that liberal capitalism was doomed and one-party planning of ...

, an American writer prosecuted by the U.S. government as a pro-Nazi agitator.

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, which retained D-A-Y in 1909, continued as a client until Dudley's death in 1966. Other clients included

Verbatim Verbatim means word for word. Verbatim may also refer to: * Verbatim (brand), a brand of storage media and flash memory * Verbatim (horse), an American racehorse * ''Verbatim'' (magazine), edited by Erin McKean * Verbatim theatre Documentary the ...

Kool-aid Kool-Aid is an American brand of flavored drink mix owned by Kraft Heinz based in Chicago, Illinois. The powder form was created by Edwin Perkins in 1927 based upon a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack. History Kool-Aid was invented by E ...

and Borden.

Tabasco sauce Tabasco is an American brand of hot sauce made from vinegar, tabasco peppers (''Capsicum frutescens'' var. ''tabasco''), and salt. It is produced by McIlhenny Company of Avery Island in south Louisiana, having been created over 150 years ago by ...

was represented by D-A-Y from the 1920s until it was purchased by Ogilvy in 1983.

References

{{Reflist Consulting firms established in 1909 Public relations companies of the United States 1909 establishments in New York City