The reality of Mad Men is long gone...well, kind of. Madison Avenue was the headquarters of all things advertising for decades. With the new wave of marketing and advertising platforms, its many offices have since dispersed. Restaurants and high-end fashion houses haven taken their place, and less and less were found on the classic Mad Ave.
However, the sun hasn't completely set on Madison Avenue advertising; for those of you looking for your high-end agency in the concrete jungle (where dreams ads are made oooh), they're still there and waiting to wow you with their high-caliber portfolios and capabilities. Here's a list of the top 15. It's numbered in the direction of midtown to uptown; for you non-New Yorkers, that is the little numbers to the big numbers. For those of you who still don't get it, then GoogleMaps is your new BFF for this one.
Hunter Public Relations, 41 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1989, offices in Seattle, WA, Chicago, IL and Washington, D.C.
Hunter is a public relations agency by founding, and offers social and digital media advertising and marketing, strategic placement and partnering and traditional media relations services. It specializes in food and nutrition corporations, but offers unique services to home, lifestyle, health and beauty organizations.
Notable clients include Tabasco, McNeil Consumer Healthcare and Arm & Hammer. It boasts a 21-year relationship with Kraft, and recently launched a campaign for the corporation that drew in major success, which included an event and a social media consumer interaction push.
Gyro, 60 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1981, with offices all over including Chicago, IL, Denver, CO, Paris, France, Singapore and many more
A full-service B2B branding and advertising agency that is unique in its approach by discovering and creating ad campaigns based on the emotions involved in human decisions.
Gyro has worked with many corporate clients, including FedEx, John Deere and American Express. Another major client is Virgin Atlantic. It recently launched the Well Red newsletter for Virgin Atlantic, which connects the business to its premiere consumers who are apart of The Flying Club, an entity of Virgin Atlantic.
Linda Gaunt Communications, 60 Madison Avenue
Founded in 2004, with a second office in Los Angeles, CA
Just a few floors up from Gyro, LGC is a boutique communications agency that provides world-class branding and advertising to high-end corporations.
In the past, LGC has worked with Stila Cosmetics, Giorgio Armani and JCPenney. Recently, it collaborated with Hunter to reposition the brand as a provider of all accessories by designing new creatives and conducting strategic media buying.
Strawberry Frog, 60 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1999, offices and capabilities throughout Europe, Mumbai, India and Singapore
Strawberry Frog specializes in branding, social media and digital development, website design, and advertising.
Strawberry Frog worked with major names such as Pampers by P&G, the European Wax Center and Morgan Stanley. It is well known for a campaign launched for Jim Beam that used Mila Kunis as the spokesperson.
MODCo, 102 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1991, with a second office in Los Angeles, CA
MODCo is a full-service advertising agency that specializes in branding on all levels: re-positioning, extension, creative and activation.
Notable clients of MODCo include Liberty Travel, Ray Ban and NBC News. Earlier this year it launched a repositioning effort for True Religion Brand Jeans, which drove in great traffic and repositioned the brand back to its American roots.
Blue Fountain Media, 102 Madison Avenue
Founded in 2003
Blue Fountain offers design for website, apps, print and video and digital marketing, advertising and development.
It has worked with the New York Yankees, AT&T and Walt Disney. TweezerMan used Blue Fountain to help out in specialized advertising campaigns, SEO and website page design.
Zoom Media & Marketing, 112 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1991, offices in Chicago, IL, Los Angeles, CA and throughout Canada
Zoom offers commercial design and production, traditional media design and placement of advertisements such as billboards and murals, and experiential integration.
Clients include Playtex Sport, Starbucks Refreshers, and Gatorade GSeries Fit. It designed and provided Planet Fitness with experiential and branded media that many gyms have since added.
Unified Social, 180 Madison Avenue
Founded in 2011, other offices in San Francisco, CA and Chicago, IL
Unified Social is an agency that specializes in design and marketing of social and digital media advertising, and is a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer.
It has worked with major names such as Toyota, Unilever and HBO. One of its clients, Ciroc, hired the agency to optimize the viewing of their video advertisements through targeting and strategic media placement.
MacDonald Media, 185 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1997, other offices in Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR and Seattle, WA
It is a full-service advertising agency that specializes in out-of-home advertising.
Clients of MacDonald include EBay, Grey Goose and UGG Australia. At the SXSW in 2014 when Nike showcased its Fuelband, MacDonald created a unique promotion that saturated the iconic Frost Tower in colors that mimicked the energy levels produced by users on the ground.
Undertone, 304 Madison Avenue
Founded in 2001, with offices in Atlanta, GA, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL and others throughout Europe
Undertone offers advertising design and placement, and specializes in impact advertising through its trademarked approach Standout Brand Experiences™.
Some notable clients include AccuWeather and Brittanica. The agency offers targeting services for a wide variety of clients from all industries.
Roberts + Lander DDB, 437 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1980s, an entity of DDB Worldwide
437 Madison hosts a small scale advertising agency, with big time results. The agency specialize in commercial reels, print, and digital design and production advertising.
It has worked with JP Morgan Chase Card Services, The Ritz Carlton and Hunter Douglas. Last year it launched a campaign for Aveeno which included choosing and positioning Jennifer Aniston as the face for the brand and designing ads around her.
TBWA, 488 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1970, boasts office all over the globe
TBWA is a full-service advertising, marketing, public relations and branding firm. The agency is ranked in the top ten of the Global Advertising Network.
Clients include Nissan, Adidas, and McDonalds. Earlier this year it designed, produced and launched a spot for The Grammy's entitled "Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Unleash NYC" that went viral on the Internet.
Evins, Ltd., 635 Madison Avenue
Founded in 1987
It is a forward thinking advertising agency that provides traditional and digital marketing, advertising and public relations that specialize in branding on all levels.
Evins, Ltd. has worked with Architectural Digest magazine, the Four Seasons Hotel New York, and Bath and Body Works.
There you have it - an awesome collaboration of the greats left on Madison Avenue. So, start your ad walk down on East 23rd and find your dream agency.
Is your Madison Avenue advertising agency not listed on here? Send me an email and let me know, we'll add you in!