Intro Icom

	>>ICOM History
	1950			The National Federation of Advertising Agencies, Inc., a United States network of agencies, is founded. The network was organized in 1950 and registered in the state of California as the National Federation of Advertising Agencies, Inc. The original agencies banded together to share resources and advance their own capabilities as the giant agencies in the largest cities, especially New York and Chicago, began to seek clients throughout the United States. Travel times diminished with the advent of jet airplanes, so any client was rapidly reachable.
	1976			With the addition of Smee's Advertising of London, NFAA becomes the International Federation of Advertising Agencies. Membership climbed to 26 and remained at about that level into the 1970s, with agencies only in the United States. In 1976, Smee's Advertising of London joined the network. Shortly thereafter an Australian agency joined. The name was then changed to the International Federation of Advertising Agencies, Inc.
	1988			IFAA begins an aggressive program of international expansion. In 1987, a momentous meeting was held in Philadelphia to assess the value to the members of the organization and to plan the future of the network. At the time there were 26 agencies in the United States, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Australia. With advice from the recently retired chairman of a global agency network, the group decided that the IFAA needed to expand to become more fully "international" and should seek an executive director with global advertising credentials. In March of 1988, Norval Stephens replaced Ken Hill, who had announced his intention to retire. Stephens was the chief operating officer of Needham Harper International, the tenth ranking international network at the time.
	1988			Norval Stephens, former COO of Needham Harper International, becomes executive director of IFAA. The network grew rapidly under Stephens. He concentrated first on Europe, and with Anthony Smee, recruited the Dassas Group, whose international officer, Patrick Walhain, became the IFAA coordinator for Europe. Former agencies in France, Germany and Finland were replaced with agencies of international stature and new agencies were rapidly secured in all the major countries of Western Europe.
	1990			Expansion in Latin America begins with the addition of agencies in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Attention then turned to Latin America. Within three years, every major market in Latin America was represented.
	1995			Expansion in Asia-Pacific is completed. The Asia-Pacific area was selectively screened and new agencies recruited in New Zealand, then in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan. The rest of the region was completed in 1995. To serve clients better and more rapidly, regional coordinators have been appointed in each of the four regions. World headquarters coordinates global clients. The North American market is coordinated from Overland Park, Kansas. Paris, France, is headquarters for Europe. Latin America is coordinated from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Asia-Pacific headquarters are in the capital of The Philippines, Manila.
	1997			Expansion into Central America begins.
	1998			Gary Burandt of Young & Rubicam becomes Executive Director.
	1998			IFAA becomes ICOM, the International Communications Agency Network, Inc., to reflect its members' greater range of marketing capabilities. In March of 1998, Norval Stephens was replaced by Gary Burandt, former Young & Rubicam international officer and president of DY&R, the joint venture with Dentsu of Japan. Today, with its new name, the International Communications Agency Network, Inc., the organization has representation in more than 95 percent of the world's advertising market. Billings exceed US$ 3 billion.

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