UWG Inc.
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{{COI|date=February 2020}}
{{advert|reason=article is still promotional in tone, needs cleanup|date=February 2020}}
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{{Infobox company
| name = UWG Inc.
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| former_name = UniWorld Group, Inc.
| type = Private
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| industry = Advertising
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| hq_location_city = New York City
| hq_location_country = New York
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| key_people = Monique L. Nelson (CEO){{cite news |last1=Baskin |first1=Anna |title=PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: MONIQUE L. NELSON TO TAKE OVER FOR BYRON LEWIS SR. AT UNIWORLD GROUP |url=https://adage.com/article/people-players/people-move-monique-l-nelson-byron-lewis-sr-uniworld-group/234511 |publisher=Ad Age |date=May 2, 2012}}
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| owner = Lori-Laine Holdings (51%)
WPP Group (49%){{cite web |title=UniWorld Group advertising & marketing assignments |url=https://www.adbrands.net/us/uniworld_us.htm |publisher=Adbrands.net |date=9 January 2020}}
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| divisions = UniWorld Group Advertising
UniWorld Group Healthcare
UniWorld Group Hispanic
UniWorld Films{{cite journal |title=UniWorld Film's New President |journal=Upscale |date=1999 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ipgOAQAAMAAJ&q=Uniworld+Group}}
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| website = {{URL|https://www.uwginc.com/}}
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UWG Inc. is a full-service advertising agency{{cite news |last1=TARQUINIO |first1=J. ALEX |title=Office Tenants Flee Manhattan Rents for Brooklyn |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/realestate/commercial/05brooklyn.html |work=The New York Times |date=November 4, 2008}}{{cite news |last1=Dougherty |first1=Philip H. |title=Uniworld Starts Unit To Create Hispanic Ads |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/30/business/advertising-uniworld-starts-unit-to-create-hispanic-ads.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 30, 1982}} 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.{{cite news |title=Top Black Ad Men and Women You Won't See on Mad Men |url=https://www.theroot.com/top-black-ad-men-and-women-you-won-t-see-on-mad-men-1790868501 |publisher=The Root |date=November 4, 2014}}{{cite news |last1=Rittenhouse |first1=Lindsay |title=Toasting UWG's 50th year |url=https://adage.com/article/agency-brief/agency-brief-longtime-omnicom-executive-passes-pitbull-starts-shop-horizon-media/2189566 |publisher=AdAge |date=August 2, 2019}}{{cite news |title=UniWorld: Changing of the guard |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2012/may/03/uniworld-changing-of-the-guard/ |publisher=New York Amsterdam News |date=March 5, 2012}} In 2014, the company rebranded itself as UWG.{{cite news |last1=Aditham |first1=Kiran |title=UniWorld Group Rebrands as UWG |url=https://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/uniworld-group-rebrands-as-uwg/67508/ |publisher=Adweek |date=June 3, 2014}}{{cite news |last1=Spiropoulos |first1=Richard |title=Changes at UniWorld repositions agency for digital age |url=https://www.blackenterprise.com/massive-makeover-at-uniworld-changes-reposition-ad-agency-for-digital-age/ |publisher=Black Enterprise |date=June 3, 2014}}
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.
History
UniWorld Group was founded in 1969 by Byron Lewis,{{cite news |last1=Byron |first1=Ellen |title=Questions for… Byron Lewis |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107827147628244730 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 3, 2004}}{{cite news |title=Leader of the pack |url=https://www.manhattantimesnews.com/leader-of-the-pack-lider-del-grupo/ |publisher=Manhattan Times |date=May 8, 2013}} who pioneered the concept of multicultural advertising.[Jet; 07/26/99, Vol. 96 Issue 8, p24, 2p, 5 bw.] 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.{{cite book |author1=Eric Lichtenfeld |title=Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie |date=2017 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=9780819568014 |pages=14, 15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jHhbLBgVLS0C&q=blaxploitation++Uniworld+Group}}Reid, Mark. Redefining Black Film. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.{{cite book |author1=Robert E. Weems |author2=Robert E. Weems, Jr. |title=Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century |date=1998 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814793275 |pages=97, 98, 192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=unMTCgAAQBAJ&q=blaxploitation++Uniworld+Group&pg=PA192}}
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.{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Barbara |title=SOUNDS OF CITY, Black Soap Opera, to Cut the Jive |url=https://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/02/flashback-sounds-of-city-1974.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 8, 1974}}{{cite book |author1=Jessie Carney Smith |author2=Millicent Lownes Jackson |author3=Linda T. Wynn |title=Encyclopedia of African American Business: K-Z |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313331114 |page=446 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6NFRC00uGXcC&q=Uniworld+group+recession&pg=PA468}} The company started creating TV commercials in 1975. Its first television advertisements were for Avon, a cosmetic company.{{cite book |author1=Laura Warren Hill |author2=Julia Rabig |title=The Business of Black Power: Community Development, Capitalism, and Corporate Responsibility in Postwar America |date=2012 |publisher=University Rochester Press |isbn=9781580464031 |pages=126, 127, 128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wC47-JbxuFMC&q=avon+commercial+uniworld&pg=PA128}}
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).
UniWorld did Burger King's minority advertising in the '80s and '90s.{{cite news |last1=Dougherty |first1=Philip H. |title=Uniworld Group Gets A Burger King Account |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/14/business/advertising-uniworld-group-gets-a-burger-king-account.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 14, 1983}}{{cite news |last1=Elliott |first1=Stuart |title=Burger King Widens Role for Uniworld |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/20/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-burger-king-widens-role-for-uniworld.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 20, 1993}} In 2000, WPP plc acquired a 49% stake in UniWorld Group for an undisclosed amount of sum.{{cite news |last1=Sampey |first1=Kathleen |title=WPP Takes Piece of Uniworld Pie |url=https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/wpp-takes-piece-uniworld-pie-38298/ |publisher=AdWeek |date=June 19, 2019}}
In 2012, Monique Nelson and her family acquired the majority stake and were appointed chair and CEO of the company.{{cite news |last1=Edmond |first1=Alfred Jr.|title=UniWorld Group's New CEO Monique Nelson |url=https://www.blackenterprise.com/ubr-spotlight-uniworld-groups-new-ceo-monique-nelson/ |publisher=Black Enterprise |date=May 30, 2012}} In 2014, UniWorld Group changed its name to UWG.{{cite news |last1=Willoughby |first1=Sergie |title=UniWorld Group CEO Byron Lewis Retires |url=https://tnj.com/uniworld-group-ceo-byron-lewis-retires/ |publisher=The Network Journal |date=May 4, 2012}} 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,{{cite news |last1=Beatty |first1=Sally Goll |title=Black-Owned Agency Retained By Texaco to Bolster Its Image |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB848536997339194000 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |date=November 21, 1996}} Lincoln-Mercury, and Ford Motor Co.{{cite news |title=WPP announces joint venture with Uniworld |url=https://www.wpp.com/news/2000/06/wpp-announces-joint-venture-with-uniworld |publisher=WPP.com |date=June 16, 2000}}{{cite news |last1=Dingle |first1=Derek T. |title=No. 37: Black Ad Agency Slays A Madison Avenue Giant |url=https://www.blackenterprise.com/great-moments-in-black-business-no-37-how-uniworld-beat-a-madison-avenue-giant/ |publisher=Black Enterprise |date=July 24, 2017}}{{cite news |title=UniWorld Group wins Amtrak Account |url=https://www.portada-online.com/hispanic-media/uniworld-group-wins-amtrak-account/ |publisher=Portada Online |date=October 12, 2012}}
Awards and recognition
UWG has been ranked multiple times in Black Enterprise magazine: #16 on their Industrial/Service 100 (1994),{{cite news |title=Uniworld Group Inc. celebrates its silver anniversary in the advertising business by targeting international markets |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dl0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA94 |publisher=Black Enterprise |date=January 1995 |page=95}} Advertising Agency of the Year (2000);{{cite journal |last1=Alexander |first1=George |title=A matter of survival |journal=Black Enterprise |date=September 2000 |issue=September 2000 |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IF4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA23}}{{cite journal |last1=G. Graves |first1=Earl |date=June 1, 2000 |title=How UniWorld redefining urban reality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I14EAAAAMBAJ&q=Uniworld+Group&pg=PA190 |journal=Black Enterprise |volume= |issue= |pages=189, 190, 192, 194, 195 |issn=0006-4165}} #5 in Advertising Agencies (2011); and #8 in black-owned ad companies in the United States (2014).{{cite news |title=Minority Owned Advertising Agencies Shut Out on Game Day |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/minority-owned-advertising-agencies-shut-out-game-day-n297126 |publisher=NBC News |date=February 2, 2015}} The Association of National Advertisers has given the company Multicultural Excellence Awards in 2010, 2012, and 2017.{{cite news |title=Burrell and UniWorld Win Top Honors at ANA |url=https://rollingout.com/2010/11/11/burrell-and-uniworld-win-top-honors-at-ana/ |publisher=Rolling Out |date=November 11, 2010}}{{cite news |last1=Wentz |first1=Laurel |title=Ford, GM, Xoom, Rosetta Stone Win ANA Multicultural Ad Awards |url=https://adage.com/article/hispanic-marketing/ford-gm-xoom-rosetta-stone-win-ana-multicultural-awards/238077 |publisher=Ad Age |date=November 1, 2012}}{{cite web |title=ANA Announces 2017 Multicultural Excellence Award Grand Prize Winners |url=https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/46562 |publisher=Ana.net |date=November 6, 2017}}
The company's founder, Byron Lewis, was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) in 2013.{{cite news |title=UniWorld founder Byron Lewis' Hall of Fame induction to be celebrated at Schomburg |url=http://targetmarketnews.com/storyid04091301.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817014117/http://targetmarketnews.com/storyid04091301.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 17, 2013 |publisher=Targetmarketnews |date=April 8, 2013}}{{cite news |last1=Caslin |first1=Yvette |title=Advertising maverick Byron Lewis inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame |url=https://rollingout.com/2013/04/29/advertising-maverick-byron-lewis-inducted-into-advertising-hall-of-fame/ |publisher=Rollingout.com |date=April 29, 2013}}
Other awards and nominations include: Communications Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA) awards (1983){{cite news |last1=Dougherty |first1=Philip H. |title=Uniworld and J.W.T. Tie for CEBA Awards |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/28/business/advertising-uniworld-and-jwt-tie-for-ceba-awards.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 1983}} 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).{{cite web |title=2010 Effie Winners |url=https://narrativebranding.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/2010_winners_list_with_trophy.pdf |pages=1, 9 |date=2010}}2010 United States
Multicultural & Lifestyle Segments{{cite web| url=https://www.effie.org/search?utf8=✓&search_form%5Bfilter_type%5D=1&search_form%5Bsort_order%5D=0&search_form%5Bkeyword%5D=UniWorld&search_form%5Bpublished_case%5D=0&commit=Search | title=Effie Search - 1 - 5 of 5 results |access-date=2024-01-18}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |author1=Jessie Smith |title=Encyclopedia of African American Business: Updated and Revised |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440850288 |pages=495, 496, 497, 498, 499 |edition=Ed. 2, Vol.2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uyw_DwAAQBAJ&q=Uniworld+Group+Agency+of+the+Year&pg=PA495}}
- {{cite book |author1=Derek T. Dingle |title=Black Enterprise Titans of The B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business |date=1999 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780471318538 |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GWsbi8IuQ18C&q=UniWorld+Hispanic&pg=PA112}}
References
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{{Portal |Companies|United States}}
External links
- [https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/fast-chat-monique-nelson-140389/Fast Chat: Monique Nelson]
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{{WPP}}
Category:1969 establishments in New York City
Category:American companies established in 1969
Category:Marketing companies established in 1969