Famed Ad Agency Rebrands Itself To Honor Jewish Founders

Image by Grey Global

By Josefin Dolsten March 28, 2017

NEW YORK (JTA) — Grey Global Group, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, was founded in New York in 1917 by two Jewish men. But due to the widespread anti-Semitism of their time, Lawrence Valenstein and Arthur Fatt decided to name the agency Grey Studios, after the color of the office wallpaper, in order to avoid losing business.

Now, Grey’s London office is honoring its founders by changing its name to Valenstein & Fatt for 100 days.

As of Monday, Grey London’s signage, business cards and stationary all reflect the new name. It will answer its phones as Valenstein & Fatt and operate under the name in official business scenarios, according to Adweek. The office and company social media pages feature photos of its Jewish founders.

Today, Grey becomes Valenstein&Fatt. We’ve done what our founders couldn’t: put their names on our door. Here’s why: https://t.co/LS2qKTrMd7 pic.twitter.com/PHJgWCI8V0

— Valenstein & Fatt (@GreyLondon) March 28, 2017

The change is part of a larger Grey-wide initiative to promote diversity in its own agency and across the advertising industry. According to its website, the company will publish its own diversity data, work with schools to promote careers in the creative industries, launch an industry task force on diversity and pay for rent for up to two underprivileged people offered jobs at Grey.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO