advertising agency

American  

noun

1. an agency employed by advertisers to plan, design, place, and supervise their advertisements or advertising campaigns.

---

advertising agency British  

noun

1. an organization that creates advertising material, contracts for publication space, and sometimes undertakes market research on behalf of its clients

---

Etymology

Origin of advertising agency

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

John Coleman, a millionaire entrepreneur who founded an advertising agency, wrote an op-ed in the Portland Press Herald this week praising the tax.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026

This was a decision influenced by the board of an advertising agency on which Deighton had once served, where everyone else went to Eton.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

Dan Kim, a creative director at New York advertising agency McCann, has considered leaving his mid-range club, Dumbo House, an outpost of Soho House in Brooklyn.

From Salon • May 30, 2025

Somewhat out of the blue, producer Lee Mendelson got a call from advertising agency McCann-Erickson: Coca-Cola wanted to sponsor an animated Christmas special.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2024

The advertising agency and the tobacco company were delighted by the unpaid publicity and were only too happy to confess to the error in the coda, “What do you want, good grammar or good taste?”

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker