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TBWA Worldwide is an international
advertising agency
An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...
whose main headquarters are in
Midtown Manhattan,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Since 1993, the agency has been a unit of
Omnicom Group
Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City.
Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...
, the world's second largest advertising agency holding company.
History
TBWA was founded in 1970 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, by William G. Tragos (Greek-American, Management), Claude Bonnange (French, Marketing), Uli Wiesendanger (Swiss, Creation), and Paolo Ajroldi (Italian, Client Services). The first letter of each founder's name provided the initials for the new organization. They were purchased by the
Omnicom Group
Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City.
Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...
in 1993.
In the mid-1990s TBWA began expanding globally spreading rapidly. It began acquiring global accounts such as Master Foods that helped strengthen the breadth and depth of its offering, so much so that in 2004 it was named by
Advertising Age
''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in m ...
as Global Agency Network of the Year.
In 2010, it was named by Advertising Agency as one of the top ten agencies of the Decade.
TBWA\Worldwide has been named Adweek's Global Agency of the Year for 2018, 2018, and 2021. TBWA\Worldwide was added to Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies in 2019.
International operations
In the United States, TBWA operates through
TBWA\Chiat\Day
TBWA\Chiat\Day ( ) is the American division of the advertising agency TBWA Worldwide. Created in the 1995 merger of TBWA and Chiat/Day, the agency operates offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, and Mexico City. Prior to the merger, ...
, with offices in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and
Nashville. In other parts of the world the company also operates under a mixed brand name such as TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, a highly awarded agency based in South Africa, TBWA\CONCEPT UNIT, West Africa's most awarded creative agency based in Nigeria, TBWA\HAKUHODO, the second largest creative agency in Japan after
Dentsu
Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest advertis ...
, TBWA\RAAD an emerging operation that spans the Middle East and North Africa. The Asia Pacific regional operations was split into three regions – Asia, Oceania and Greater China – and headquarters moved from
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
to
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
. Its network also expands throughout Latin America. An example of one of its prominent links is Brands&People, a design and advertising agency in Monterrey.
Within Omnicom Group
Within the Omnicom Group of Companies, TBWA is generally partnered with OMD and PHD for Media solutions, TEQUILA for below the line marketing communications, Ketchum and Gavin Anderson for Public Relations and Investor Relations, and Agency.com for interactive. That said, in specific markets it partners or works with other Diversified Agency Services (DAS) agencies within Omnicom's portfolio.
Disruption and Media Arts
TBWA has a philosophy called the disruption and Media Arts created by Jean-Marie Dru when he was in BDDP (French advertising agency now called BDDP&Fils) the May 1st of 1992.
This philosophy is outlined in several books by Jean-Marie Dru, such as "''Disruption", "How Disruption Brought Order''", and "''Beyond Disruption: Changing the Rules in the Marketplace''."
Controversies
Absolut Vodka controversy
In April 2008, Teran/TBWA of Mexico released a controversial advertisement for
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brands ...
depicting a tongue-in-cheek fictional "perfect world" dubbed "absolut world" depicting the larger Mexico as it existed before the 19th century
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
, which includes areas now part of the United States (including
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
). Some time after the billboard was taken down in Mexico City, a photo of it surfaced on a right-wing blog in the US, sparking a short uproar among elements of the media.
Pincha la Rueda de Hamilton
''Pincha la Rueda de Hamilton'' (''Burst Hamilton's tires''), a Spanish website run by TBWA, was set up in October 2008. It hosted a game where users could leave objects on a race track to stop the then
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
leader,
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
, from winning the last grand prix of the year in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. It became controversial when users began to leave racist comments (such as "half-breed") aimed at the mixed-race Hamilton and was shut down in November. The
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backs ...
, the sport's governing body, and Hamilton's team,
McLaren, condemned the comments as "abusive and hateful".
Taco Bell Chihuahua
In 1997 TBWA developed the
Chihuahua campaign for
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, includin ...
. Two Michigan men, represented by
Warner Norcross & Judd LLP, who had earlier pitched the concept to Taco Bell sued and in 2003 a jury awarded them US$30 million in damages and a judge tacked on US$12 million in interest. Taco Bell in turn sued TBWA saying it should have been aware of the conflicts. In 2009 a three-judge federal appeals panel ruled against Taco Bell.
Häagen-Dazs India
In December 2009, TBWA developed the campaign for
Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York, in 1960. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, Ne ...
Ice Cream in India. Several banners were put up that said, "Exclusive Preview for International Travelers - Access restricted only to holders of international passports". Instead of portraying exclusivity, this was perceived negatively due to
India's long history of colonialism where access to certain areas was restricted to the white colonizers from Britain. Häagen-Dazs cut ties with TBWA after the negative publicity generated due to that incident.
Economic Times
/ref>
See also
*Lürzer's Archive
''Lürzer's Archive'' (also known as ''Luerzer’s Archive'') is a bi-monthly magazine for the advertising industry which features advertising campaigns for print and TV from around the world. The magazine was founded in 1984 and has a global circu ...
References
{{Omnicom
Advertising agencies of the United States
Companies based in New York City
Marketing companies established in 1970
Economy of Los Angeles
1993 mergers and acquisitions
1970 establishments in France