Project Worldwide was founded in 2010 by Robert G. Vallee, Jr., then Chairman and CEO of George P. Johnson, an event and brand marketing firm based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. George P. Johnson, which traces its history back to 1914, managed several agencies it had previously acquired, including California-based agency Juxt, Australian agency Spinifex Group and Germany's Raumtechnik. The company's executives formed Project Worldwide as a holding company, to include George P. Johnson, and the company was structured so that its employees would own 100% of the company through an employee stock-ownership plan. In 2011, the company acquired Rochester, NY-based agency Partners & Napier. In November 2012, the company acquired Denver, Colorado-based full service agency Motive. In March 2013, Project funded the launch of Argonaut, an advertising agency based in San Francisco, which became one of Project's agencies. In May, the company launched shopper marketing firm Shoptology. In August 2016, Project acquired Brooklyn-based public relations agency Praytell. In October, the company acquired NY City-based digital creative agency Wondersauce. In March 2017, the company launched Project Pledge, an matching program for employee donations to charitable causes. In October, Project acquired Melbourne, Australia-based consumer engagement agency Dig+Fish. In December 2018, Project acquired Auckland, New Zealand-based experiential agency Darkhorse. In October 2019, the company merged its Los Angeles-based agency Pitch into its Denver-based agency Motive.
Agencies
As of December 2019, Project Worldwide consisted of the following 13 agencies:
Argonaut, an advertising agency based in San Francisco
Darkhorse, a New Zealand-based experiential agency
Dig+Fish, a Melbourne, Australia-based consumer engagement agency
G7 Entertainment Marketing, an entertainment marketing company
In 2018, Projects's Australian digital agency Spinifex received media coverage for a complex virtual reality project it developed as part of singer Elton John's farewell tour.
Philanthropy
Project runs an employee philanthropy program called Project Pledge, using Calgary-based donation platform Benevity. Project matches its employee's charitable donations tax free up to $5,000 per employee, up to $1 million annually.
