Y&R setting up shop on Catalina Island?

An emergency all-agency meeting of Young & Rubicam this morning in Irvine, Calif., rumored to be about new business or a management shift, turned out be equally dramatic, heralding the relocation of the office to Long Beach and Catalina Island. A swirl of activity led up to the announcement, including confidential meetings, relocation memos, IT studies of Catalina’s wireless and telephone services, and facilities research into the logistics of commuting through Long Beach or San Pedro to the island once owned by William Wrigley Jr. and still populated by a herd of buffalo from an old Western shot there decades ago. Managing director David Murphy told staffers the meeting had been pushed up after Adweek learned of the developments, confirmed them through the Catalina Chamber of Commerce and other sources and was planning an e-mail push and a story for Monday. At the end of the meeting, sources say, Murphy said that despite fake displays of enthusiasm for paradisiac exile and the prospect of a three-hour commute, that this was all just a big old April Fools’ Day prank.

—Posted by Gregory Solman

Photo: Martinez/La Opinion Photos/Newscom

April 1, 2005 in Y&R | Permalink