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George Patterson Y&R (GPYR) is an Australasian advertising agency with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Auckland. The agency was formed in 2005 when the international advertising holding conglomerate WPP Group acquired the Australian marketing communications company, The Communications Group (TCG).

Merged businesses

TCG's primary advertising asset was the George Patterson agency which had dominated the Australian advertising market throughout the 2nd half of the 20th century. Known as "Patts" in the industry, the business had been George Patterson Advertising from its formation in 1934 when George Patterson demerged the Sydney & Melbourne business he had started in 1918 from Catts-Patterson; George Patterson Bates from the 1990s, when the agency's long-standing Asian affiliation with Bates Worldwide was formalised with an acquisition by Bates, then one of the two worldwide network holdings of Saatchi & Saatchi PLC; and George Patterson Partners at the time of the WPP acquisition, having been primed for sale under that name by the TCG management-buyout group since 2003.

WPP merged the Australian offices of its worldwide Young & Rubicam brand with George Patterson. WPP had acquired the worldwide Young & Rubicam brand in 2000.

Leadership

George Patterson Y&R offices operates with a system of local office CEOs for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Auckland. Jason Buckley is the Regional COO and Ben Coulsen is the Regional ECD for ANZ.

Its major clients include the ADF, Suncorp Group, Colgate Palmolive and LG Electronics.

Controversy

The agency attracted controversy after it won a contract to "clean up" the social media policy of the Australian Defence Force. As well as criticising the decision not to relegate the task to the Government, a law firm or risk management consultant, The Advertiser reported that "Senior staff at the advertising agency promote degrading images of women and post bizarre messages on their social networking accounts." The social networking accounts, which could be accessed via links on the firm's home page, referred to Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a lesbian, and featured guides on topics such as "acceptable stalking" and "making your own sex toys". CEO Russell Howcroft admits to being a member of the "Pippa Middleton Ass Appreciation Society" group on Facebook. Other staff members can be seen drunk, one can be seen in a simulated sex act and others tweet statements such as ""Where can I buy a Kate Middleton blow-up doll?". A spokesperson for George Patterson Y&R stated: "We do not believe that this material is in any way relevant to an assessment of the nature or quality of the professional services that GPY&R provides." The story was picked up by most major Australian newspapers.

References

1. Ryan, Rosemary (27 October 2005). "WPP ANNOUNCES WHAT EVERYONE ALREADY KNEW". bandt.com.au. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
2. McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". The Advertiser. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
3. McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". Herald Sun. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
4. McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
5. McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". Perth Now. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
6. McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". News.com.au. Retrieved 1 June 2011.

External links

• George Patterson Y&R (official website)

• Use dmy dates from June 2011
• Advertising agencies of Australia