Thumbnail :

Publication: I Have an Idea

http://ihaveanidea.org/articles/2012/01/09/a-seattle-state-of-mind-eighty-years-of-cole-weber/

A Seattle State of Mind: Eighty Years of Cole & Weber

Brett McKenzie
Chief Writer, SBN2

2011 seemed to have been a year of milestones in the advertising industry, at in our neck of the woods. Back in September we at IHAVEANIDEA celebrated our own tenth anniversary, and throughout the year a number of our agency friends also hit the big one-oh: La Comunidad in Miami and Buenos Aires just turned ten, and both John St. in Toronto and MMB in Boston turned ten earlier in the year.

So when I got a call from Mike Doherty, President of Seattle’s Cole & Weber United — and one of our favourite west coast shops — and he said that they were also celebrating an anniversary of their own, I thought “Cool! Just like us!”

It turns out it would only be “just like us” if this was the year 2081.

Yes, Cole & Weber had achieved a milestone that few other agencies had reached: an astounding 80 years in business. DDB? Ogilvy & Mather? Leo Burnett? None of these legends have been around the block as long as that little Pacific Northwest shop, founded as Wilkins & Cole Advertising in 1931 by Mac Wilkins, Arlyn Cole and George Weber.

Attachment I Have an Idea-3.pdf