Young Company History

Established in 1949 Young Company is One of Southern California’s Advertising Agencies

Doug Young handles the TWA account for Howard Hughes in late 1940s.

Doug Young handles the TWA account for Howard Hughes in the late 1940s.

Douglas Young and Bogie Boggartt

Douglas Young (left) with associate Bogie Boggartt at the Ambassador Hotel circa 1957.

Bart Young enjoys the benefits of dad

Bart Young enjoys the benefits of dad handling the LA Pontiac Dealers in 1954.

Young Company is one of Southern California’s most established ad agencies, with roots dating back to 1949, when Doug Young founded Taggart & Young Advertising agency in the Hollywood District of Los Angeles near the Farmer’s Market. For seven decades, the firm has been dedicated to helping regional, national and international companies build their brands and grow their businesses.

Doug Young opens Taggart & Young in 1949 on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles

Doug Young opens Taggart & Young in 1949 on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The agency of Taggart & Young was co-founded in 1949 by Douglas R. Young in the Hollywood District of Los Angeles near the Farmer’s Market. He left his post as Western Regional Manager at agency Beaumont & Holman where he handled two large national accounts, Greyhound Buses and TWA.

Doug partnered with Earl Taggart who had been western regional manager for McGraw-Hill publications. In addition to Business Week and Standard & Poors, McGraw-Hill literally invented the vertical industry publication business who trade magazine titles included: Aviation Week, Construction, Chemicals, Metals, Plastics and Electronics (which defined an entirely new industry category that did not exist prior to the publishing of the magazine.) Primarily serving the needs of industrial companies, the Los Angeles-based advertising agency played an important role in cultivating the economic landscape in Southern California and is considered the region’s oldest independent agency.

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1949

Taggart & Young Advertising Agency founded in Los Angeles

1964

Merged with Al Hollander, Inc. – Financial Advertising Agency

1969

Merged with Speer & Mays to become Speer, Young & Hollander

1975

Partnered with Boylhart, Lovett & Dean – LA’s top Industrial Ad Agency

1976

Bart Young joins SYH with Berkeley MBA with eye on growing tech market

1978

Created the “Laser Label” brand for Avery International – Xerox 9600

1981

Jumped chip-head first into the personal computer revolution

1981

Bart Young purchases Speer, Young & Hollander – becomes president

1986

Expands into Public Relations with focus on technology marketing

1990

Bested top OC B2B Shops for coveted Silicon Systems semiconductor

1992

Won coveted IBM San Jose account which grew to 5 divisions

1994

Partnered with researcher Renee Fraser to become Fraser/Young

1995

Opened Focus Group facility in Santa Monica for Market Research

1996

Launched first website for ARAMARK (Microsoft launched theirs in 1995)

1998

Won International Rectifier account to promote low-power semiconductors

1998

Fraser departs, changed agency name to Young Company

1999

Ranked as one the top 10 Business-to-Business Ad Agencies in the U.S

2000

Opened office in Laguna Beach to service Texas Instruments

2001

Became Partner in BBN – Business Branding Network – 26 countries

2003

Launched an SEO service called Optimus – prior to Google Analytics

2004

Bart became EVP at Phelps Group for two wonderful years

2006

Relocated to Orange County – in lovely Downtown Laguna Beach

2009

Launched national Social Media campaign for Samsung for K-12 market

2010

Created Sargent Shredder mobile document shredding brand from scratch

2012

Launched Rising Stars Digital Marketing Internship Program

2015

Google Partner Agency awarded

2015

Expanded Laguna Beach location with new Digital Marketing Studio

2016

Developed SnapNsure self-storage insurance brand from scratch

2017

Wins American Technologies Inc (ATI) national account

2018

Yelp Partner Agency awarded

2019

Young Company turns 70!

Speer, Young & Hollander

Speer, Young & Hollander prepare for a big advertising presentation at their offices in Los Angeles in the golden age of advertising when creativity soared and big budgets ruled the day.

During its formative years, Taggart & Young handled a variety of clients including Pontiac and Cadillac dealers of Southern California. In 1963, a merger with Harvard grad Alvin Hollander expanded the agency into the world of financial marketing. As Young & Hollander, the agency attained recognition on creative campaigns for Santa Monica Federal Savings, Century Federal Savings, Pasadena Federal Savings, and Sutro & Company.

Speer, Young & Hollander prepare for a big advertising presentation at their offices in Los Angeles in the Golden Age of Advertising when creativity soared and big budgets ruled the day.

A successful merger with Speer and Mays, in 1967, brought increased emphasis on industrial accounts and produced the winning team of Speer, Young & Hollander, Inc., an agency primed to grow into the booming Southern California landscape. Speer, Young & Hollander’s client roster was bolstered by companies such as Borg Warner’s Byron Jackson Pump Division, Delta Trucking Lines, FMC Sweepers, Hoffman Meat Packing, Houston Film Processors, Fruehauf Trailers, Maxon Industries, and O’Connor Engineering.

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Art Deco icon Bullock’s Wilshire in 1949
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Young Company was founded within blocks of the Farmer’s Market
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Horizontal dumb waiters were introduced in 1949 in LA!

Making History

At Speer, Young & Hollander, there was no shortage of creative talent on board. SYH’s creative director Steve Hayden, who was well-versed in technology marketing, generated many outstanding campaigns for the agency. Steve later earned even greater recognition at Chiat/Day Advertising where he wrote the super bowl TV commercial “1984″ for the Apple Macintosh which is arguably the most famous and critically acclaimed TV commercial of all time.

The Next Generation

In 1976, Bart Young joined the agency after receiving his MBA from UC Berkeley. Charged with attracting a new generation of clients, Bart began winning and managing his own accounts from the very beginning. Inspired by the brilliant creative work of Hayden and others, Bart focused on producing cutting-edge, high-impact creative for a mix of B2B technology and some consumer clients.

In 1983, Bart Young purchased Speer, Young & Hollander from Doug Young with the desire to provide clients with integrated marketing services that included advertising, market research and public relations. Over the next ten years the agency added over ten Fortune 500 clients to its roster and was recognized nationally on scores of occasions for its exciting creative advertising campaigns.

Young Company moves from ad agency row in Los Angeles to 100 Wilshire in Santa Monica.

LA to 100 Wilshire - in Santa Monica

In 1994, Bart and his team shortened the name to Young Company, and dedicated themselves to becoming the leading business marketing and technology specialist in Southern California. With several senior level executives with deep technical and B to B marketing backgrounds Young Company’s client list soon included Southern California’s “Who’s Who” in the fields of software, semiconductors, and telecommunications and dot.com business models. missingIn addition to its long standing Fortune 500 clients, the agency built relationships with venture capitalists Rustic Canyon Group, Montgomery & Co., Palomar and Smart Technology Ventures. Helping to launch new start-ups enabled Young Company to create brands from scratch including name development, visual identity and strategic positioning.

In 2000 the agency, which was currently located at 100 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, opened an Orange County office in Laguna Beach. At about the same time it was invited to become the Western U.S. Partner Agency for BBN (Business Branding Network) a global strategic brand-consulting network comprised of the top business-to-business agencies in 25 countries. The tech crash of 2001 had devastating impact on business to business ad agency budgets which required Young Company to downsize rapidly and transform itself from being advertising to public relations centric.

Young Company moves from LA to Laguna Beach

Young Company moves from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach, CA.

In October of 2003, Young Company merged its Santa Monica and Laguna-based offices with The Phelps Group. Owned and operated by entrepreneur extraordinaire Joe Phelps, The Phelps Group is a highly creative Santa Monica based agency that has been nationally recognized as one of the top integrated marketing communications firms in the country. Bart served as Executive Vice President for the agency for two and a half years, until an opportunity to work again under his own standard presented itself.

Young Company Today

In January 2006 Bart Young re-launched Young Company as a creative marketing communications agency in the Orange County office located in Laguna Beach that had once been Young Company’s branch office. Bart’s decision to go solo again was based on a desire to more intently serve a select group of clients with a level involvement that takes full advantage of his experience and hands-on style. With this in mind, he carefully picked a dedicated team of professionals to help him pursue this vision. The new Young Company combines years of business-to-business marketing experience with significant branding skills and Internet marketing expertise to benefit companies located in Los Angeles and Orange County.

Website marketing is at the heart of most client campaigns with heavy doses of online marketing, including push email marketing and website design that put SEO (search engine optimization) at the top of our design priorities. Young Company agency has been ranked as the fastest growing agency in Orange County.

Of course, we still love to produce creative advertising in all media, including print advertising, TV commercials and radio commercials, when our client’s audience calls for these choices. Our media planning, buying and management skills are superb. For our B2B clients and consumer marketing categories, we excel at target account programs where custom databases are compiled and penetrated with compelling messages delivered in a creative package.

Associate creative director wins big at Cannes, Clio’s and One Show for Ameriquest’s “Mini-Mart” spot.

In summary, Young Company provides a comprehensive set of advertising, marketing and public relations services for clients that span a wide range of markets. Creative brand building and sharp marketing based upon research and intuition remain hallmarks of the agency. A strong background in web-based advertising has combined with these elements to provide the cutting edge, innovative marketing solutions that have marked the past and prefigure the future. Young Company is once again applying its creative experience, marketing skills and media techniques to what it does best for its clients — Building Brands and Growing Companies.