McKinney (advertising agency) facts for kids

McKinney is an advertising agency that helps companies tell their stories and sell their products. It's based in Durham, North Carolina, and also has offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Phoenix.

How McKinney Started

The agency began in 1969. It was founded by two people, Charles "Chick" McKinney and Mike Silver, and was first called McKinney & Silver. Later, its name was shortened to McKinney. Since 2012, McKinney has been part of a bigger company called Cheil Worldwide.

In 2004, McKinney moved its main office from Raleigh, North Carolina, to the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. Ten years later, McKinney's CEO, Brad Brinegar, appeared in a short movie. This movie celebrated the old American Tobacco factory being fixed up and used again.

McKinney has won awards for its work. In 2012, it was named the most effective independent agency in the world by the Effie Awards and Warc. This means their ads worked really well! In 2013, McKinney helped its client, Mizuno, become known as the most effective brand in North America. This was thanks to a project called the Mezamashii Run Project.

After being bought by Cheil, McKinney opened a new office in New York in 2013. Then, in 2019, the agency grew even more. It opened an office in Los Angeles on the West Coast by joining with another group called Operam Creative Group.

McKinney was also recognized by Ad Age in 2015 as one of 10 agencies to watch. In the same year, Jonathan Cude, who leads the creative team at McKinney, was named one of the top leaders in tech, media, and marketing by Adweek.

In 2016, McKinney started the Joni Madison Mtern Diversity Scholarship. This scholarship honors Joni Madison, who used to be a leader at McKinney. She now works at the Human Rights Campaign, a large group that works for equal rights for all people in the United States. In 2017, Jenny Nicholson, a creative director at McKinney, was named one of the "100 People Who Make Advertising Great" by the 4As. In 2018, McKinney also created something called Startup Stampede. They did this with American Underground, which is a Google Tech Hub that helps new businesses.

In 2018, Joe Maglio became the new CEO of McKinney. Brad Brinegar, who was CEO before him, became the chairman.

Famous Campaigns

McKinney has created many memorable advertising campaigns for different companies and causes. Here are some of them:

• Where is my Gnome? – This was for Travelocity.
• The Art of the Heist – This campaign was for Audi cars.
• College Football Championship – McKinney worked on this for ESPN.
• No One Gets a Diploma Alone – This was for the Ad Council, encouraging people to support education.
• Family Hub: Birthday Party – This was one of many commercials for Samsung Electronics. These ads featured actor Dax Shepard and his wife, Kristen Bell.
• SPENT – This is an online game created for Urban Ministries of Durham. It shows what it's like to be close to homelessness. Over 10 million people have played it since 2011.
• Getting Greenie – This campaign was for CarMax.
• Payback – For Next Gen Personal Finance, teaching about money.
• Competitive Sleeping League — For Marpac, a company that makes sound machines.
• Stop HB2 – This campaign was for Equality NC and the Human Rights Campaign.