Mullen is an American advertising and marketing communications agency based in Boston, Massachusetts. One of its more notable campaigns was creating the Monster.com Super Bowl commercial When I Grow Up. The agency has also earned critical acclaim for its viral film Pac-Man Puppet Show. Mullen is a four-time winner of Adweek New England Agency of the Year. Joe Grimaldi is Mullen's CEO.
Mullen was founded in 1970 by Jim Mullen supported by the agency's original creative director, Paul Silverman (died August 10, 2009; see [1]) and then-COO (Chief Operating Officer) Joe Grimaldi and the agency's fourth partner, Edward Boches. Over the years, the company grew steadily into the 22nd largest agency in the United States. It is a leading independent brand within the Interpublic Group (IPG) of Companies. The agency provides creative, media, brand planning, direct-marketing, interactive, design, public relations and marketing-to-women services for established brands and brands in transition.
In 2011 the agency was named to Ad Age's A list as the third best agency in the country. In the same year, Fast Company named Mullen to its top 10 innovative marketing and advertising companies.
The agency is headquartered at 40 Broad Street in Boston, where it moved on June 1, 2009, following 22 years in a manor house in Wenham, Massachusetts. In addition to its headquarters, Mullen has offices in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mullen has published a cookbook authored by its former executive chef Liz Walkowicz, a Culinary Institute of America graduate whose daily gourmet meals were profiled in U.S. News & World Report.
In May 2012 Mullen announced plans to open offices in San Francisco. The office will act as an extension of Mullen Boston under the direction of President Alex Leikikh and Chief Creative Officer Mark Wenneker.
On May 8, 2015, Mullen merged with Interpublic Group's global agency Lowe and Partners, creating the Mullen Lowe Group. Alex Leikikh who had been CEO at Mullen became Worldwide CEO of MullenLowe Group. The merger was not made for purposes of cost-cutting, said Leikikh:
- "This was about getting Lowe into the US and Mullen into international markets, and liquid talent across the network. Both the companies are doing fine financially and we are going to continue to pitch business together and add global revenues, but what we really want to do is to focus on adding another one or two multinational clients to the roster."
The new company also has a wholly owned subsidiary in India, the MullenLowe Lintas Group, a marketing communications company.
Video Mullen Advertising
Clients prior to the 2015 merger
Maps Mullen Advertising
References
External links
- Agency Web site
- U.S. News & World Report article on the Mullen cafeteria
- Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2011/top-10-advertising.php