The story
Founded by William Benton in 1929, in New York City.1
The agency's success was closely related to the rise in popularity of radio. Benton & Bowles were among the agencies that invented the radio soap opera to promote their clients' products. By 1936 it was responsible for three of the four most popular radio programs on the air.
B&B's influence on soap opera continued from radio into the television era. In 1956, it and their client Procter & Gamble launched the nationally televised, long-running soap opera As the World Turns on CBS.
B&B created some of the most memorable commercials on television, including "Look, Ma, No Cavities" for Crest toothpaste and "When E.F. Hutton Talks, People Listen" for the New York brokerage house.
In 1981, they set up Telecom Entertainment as a subsidiary to handle production, which would handle $12–15 million per year, in order to develop television movies and miniseries, as well as pay-cable television shows, most notably book adaptations, and it will be handled by Michael Lepiner, who will serve as president of the Telecom Entertainment unit of the advertising agency.
Telecom Entertainment decided to separate from B&B in order to distribute products domestically and internationally by 1987 and to let Telecom expand their development slate for the 1987–88 season and expand direct distribution of its product.
Soon after, the Telecom Entertainment unit signed a pact with Yorkshire Television, the ITV franchisee, to co-produce and develop product for the global marketplace. The Telecom/Yorkshire pact involved co-productions involving international creative artists, stars and British crew and technical production expertise, and acquired the rights to four M.M. Kaye novels for his Death In book series, as well as The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank, for CBS and ITV.
Benton & Bowles merged with D'Arcy-MacManus Masius (D-MM) in 1985 to form D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B). The agency later merged with Leo Burnett Worldwide to form BCOM3, which was subsequently bought by Publicis Group in 2002. A subsequent reorganization by Publicis marked the end of the Benton & Bowles brand.
From Wikipedia’s article on Benton & Bowles, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3