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UWG Inc.
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UWG Inc. is a full-service advertising agency[4][5] headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite offices in Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles. It is the longest-standing multicultural ad agency in the United States, founded in 1969.[6][7][8] In 2014, the company rebranded itself as UWG.[9][10]
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Some of its current and past clients include Lincoln-Mercury, Ford Motor Company, CVS Pharmacy, Marriott International, U.S. Marine Corps, AT&T, and Burger King.[6][1][7]
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History
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UniWorld Group was founded in 1969 by Byron Lewis,[11][12] who pioneered the concept of multicultural advertising.[13] The company conceptualised the marketing campaign for the 1971 "blaxploitation" film Shaft. The company was credited for popularizing Shaft by using the rhetoric of black power.[14][15][16]
In 1974, the company created a radio soap opera that centered on the post-Great Migration and African Americans settling in the Northern United States, entitled Sounds of the City. The soap opera helped the company earn its first million dollars in gross sales.[17][18] The company started creating TV commercials in 1975. Its first television advertisements were for Avon, a cosmetic company.[19]
In 1997, the company launched UniWorld Entertainment, a production company that developed national TV specials. The company has also handled publicity for films such as A Bronx Tale (1993), Amistad (1997), Boyz n the Hood (1991), Glory (1989), Malcolm X (1992), Shaft (1971), Shaft's Big Score (1973), and Shaft in Africa (1973).[18]
UniWorld did Burger King's minority advertising in the '80s and '90s.[20][21] In 2000, WPP plc acquired a 49% stake in UniWorld Group for an undisclosed amount of sum.[22][23]
In 2012, Monique Nelson and her family acquired the majority stake and were appointed chair and CEO of the company.[24] In 2014, UniWorld Group changed its name to UWG.[9][10][25] Some of the notable clients that UWG served include CVS Pharmacy, Marriott International, U.S. Marine Corps, Gatorade, AT&T, Mars, Incorporated, Amtrak, Smirnoff Vodka, Colgate-Palmolive, Texaco,[26] Lincoln-Mercury, and Ford Motor Co.[6][1][27][28][29][30][7]
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Awards and recognition
UWG has been ranked multiple times in Black Enterprise magazine: #16 on their Industrial/Service 100 (1994),[27] Advertising Agency of the Year (2000);[23][31] #5 in Advertising Agencies (2011);[24] and #8 in black-owned ad companies in the United States (2014).[32] The Association of National Advertisers has given the company Multicultural Excellence Awards in 2010, 2012, and 2017.[33][34][35]
The company's founder, Byron Lewis, was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) in 2013.[36][37]
Other awards and nominations include: Communications Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA) awards (1983)[38] and the APAC Effie Awards Gold Award in United States Multicultural & Lifestyle Segments – the multimedia 'Real Talk' ad campaign produced for the United States Marine Corps (2010).[39][40][41]
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Further reading
- Jessie Smith (2017). Encyclopedia of African American Business: Updated and Revised (Ed. 2, Vol.2 ed.). ABC-CLIO. pp. 495, 496, 497, 498, 499. ISBN 9781440850288.
- Derek T. Dingle (1999). Black Enterprise Titans of The B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business. John Wiley & Sons. p. 112. ISBN 9780471318538.
References
External links
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