Today UWG, the country’s longest-standing multicultural marketing agency, celebrates 50 years of pushing culture forward through insight-driven storytelling. To recognize this important landmark, UWG begins a year-long celebration.

Before the advertising industry understood the economic power of multicultural consumers, Byron Lewis, a young African American advertising executive, realized that the needs of a growing black consumer base should be reflected in an agency that best represents them. In 1969, Mr. Lewis founded UniWorld Group, Inc., forever changing the landscape of the American advertising industry and solidifying his status as one of the founders of multicultural advertising.

Today, Chair and CEO Monique Nelson has enhanced UWG’s range of expertise to connect brands with the growing and diverse cultures in today’s marketplace. She has evolved Mr. Lewis’s original concept into UniCulture, a nuanced understanding of the multicultural audience mindset beyond the layers of race and ethnicity.

With today’s minorities becoming the new majority, the role of multicultural agencies is even more important than when UWG was founded in 1969. To that end, UWG will add to its headquarters in Brooklyn and offices in Atlanta, Detroit and Miami by expanding its footprint to include a new Los Angeles satellite office, bringing its expertise and capabilities to the entertainment community this fall.

“UWG has experienced exceptional growth and gained extraordinary cultural knowledge over the last 50 years. I am extremely proud to be part of the UWG legacy,” says Ms. Nelson. “As our society and industry continue to evolve, I am excited to be at the helm of a game-changing agency, full of cultural leaders who deeply understand how culture and social influence impact the way people live, work and interact with brands.”

The agency’s award-winning work has prevailed for five decades. Among UWG’s most longstanding clients are Ford Motor Company (29 years), Colgate-Palmolive (23 years) and The Home Depot (18 years).

UWG industry milestones include:

• 2000: UniWorld Group becomes a strategic partner of WPP, one of the world’s largest communication groups
• 2012: UniWorld Group names Monique Nelson as Chair and CEO
• 2013: Byron Lewis is inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame
  by the American Advertising Foundation
• 2014: UniWorld Group rebrands itself as UWG

UWG will release details about upcoming events and activities throughout the year.

About UWG
UWG is the longest-standing, full-service, multicultural marketing agency in the United States. For the past 50 years, the agency has been pushing culture forward through insight-driven storytelling. Headquartered in Brooklyn, with offices in Atlanta, Detroit and Miami, it is a minority-owned, woman-led strategic partner of the WPP network. For more information about UWG, please visit uwginc.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.