Advertising Age reported on the TRG resurrection post-Stan Richards’ resignation, publishing a crapload of content that feels like performative PR.
The White advertising agency, ironically and/or appropriately, is still struggling to get in the black.
TRG has still not fully recovered—how its CEO plans to get the agency on the map again
By Lindsay Rittenhouse
Can a song about cat litter put an agency back on the map?
Pete Lempert, the newly appointed CEO of TRG, thinks so. A longtime principal of the agency who took on that role in March, Lempert is charged with getting the Dallas-based independent formerly known as The Richards Group back on the industry’s radar. It’s been five years since its founder Stan Richards stepped down following a racist remark he made during an internal meeting. And yet, the agency has still not quite managed to shake perceptions that its reputation and culture are dated.
Lempert, the agency’s second CEO since Richards stepped down, said he’s ready to get TRG out there again, and believes work such as recent campaigns the agency has done for World’s Best Cat Litter will help to signal a new direction for the agency. That campaign—including a spot last year for its Poop Fighter brand featuring an R&B song about a cat named Rose whose poo-poo does not smell like a rose—offers the type of category-breaking advertising for which the shop wants to be known, he said.
“It’s got some moxie,” Lempert said of the World’s Best Cat Litter work, “and it has to because that category is not easy to become distinct in. That’s a client who said, ‘Look, we want people to see our work, we don’t want it to be wasted.’”
TRG has been back on a bit of a winning streak after several significant client losses in 2024, such as automaker Stellantis, which ended its 15-year relationship with the agency, as well as Credit One Bank, which had worked with TRG since 2019.
Lempert said TRG has brought in 13 new clients in the last 12 months, something he personally takes pride in as he served as the agency’s new business director before becoming its CEO.
“That sends a really good signal about the health of the company,” he said. “We’re looking to build the business and to be back on the radar with consultants.”
Still, some in the industry, including consultants and former employees, said TRG hasn’t evolved enough from the Richards incident in October 2020 to celebrate just yet. Some said its rebrand to TRG from The Richards Group in 2022 and its appointments of longtime agency veterans feel like surface-level changes. (Lempert joined TRG in 1994 and his predecessor as CEO, Glenn Dady, spent 45 years there.)
TRG then and now
“The Richards Group was, and still is, an insular culture that prides itself on doing things ‘Stan’s way,’” said Jay Pattisall, a VP and principal analyst for Forrester, who also worked as a brand strategist for TRG from 2000 to 2003. “Rebranding the agency to its existing acronym TRG and installing top lieutenants like Dady and Lempert are designed to produce an appearance of change while The Richards Group culture quietly lives on.”
Pattisall added that there are positives to that, praising the shop under Richards as “a creative force to be reckoned with” that produced iconic campaigns for clients including Continental Airlines, Corona, Chick-fil-A and The Home Depot.
Richards founded TRG in 1976 and several people, including former employees, said he oversaw everything that came out of that agency until he stepped down in 2020. These people said everyone was expected to follow Richards’ creative vision, which did produce some timeless ads, including “We’ll Leave the Light on For You” for Motel 6 and the famous Chick-fil-A cow mascots.
That said, “Stan also created a merciless culture,” Pattisall said, before adding regarding the 2020 incident: “Employees whistle-blowing the founder’s bad behavior can only be interpreted as a cry for help and a call for change.”
Richards was not available for comment.
Looking to the future
Lempert argued that TRG has taken “strides” to evolve the agency’s culture in the past five years. Rules are “less strict” these days than when everyone had to follow Richards’ vision, he said.
“We’re fiercely independent,” he said. “For many, many years, we celebrated our independence in different ways, but now we own ourselves and that’s a liberating and an interesting place to be.”
Lempert said TRG is much more diverse culturally than when it was “owned by one man.” (Since its founder left, it was owned by a nonprofit under Dady and is now fully independent under its own LLC.)
He pointed to TRG’s new chief creative officer, Terence Reynolds, who is Black; three of TRG’s executive leaders who are women; and said that nearly 55% of the agency’s 215 total employees are women. Lempert added that TRG also employs workers from various parts of the world, including Asia, India, Europe and Africa.
The agency posts its staff diversity breakdown on its website. In 2024, TRG reported that 25% of employees were people of color, and a spokesperson added that among new hires, 50% were people of color. Its 2025 numbers have not yet been posted.
TRG’s various employee resource groups, which were set up under Dady, are also “designed to represent the interests of different people within the agency,” Lempert said.
Several consultants interviewed expressed faith in TRG’s new leadership, despite it being around since Richards’ early days.
“Pete seems like a good guy,” said one anonymous consultant, arguing that it’s time for the industry to give TRG a chance.
“It’s not their fault that Stan made a big mistake,” this consultant said. “The folks running TRG deserve a break and it’s a long enough time. I think the industry is wanting to really see what the new TRG is doing … and there should be more evidence of that.”
Mason Reed, managing director, retail acquisition and corporate marketing at TRG client Charles Schwab, said he finds the fact that Lempert has been with the agency so long to be a strength.
“Pete’s longevity at the agency provides a centering point for the teams at TRG,” Reed said. “Rather than relive stories of yesteryear or trade on past successes, he’s always building and empowering teams for now and the future. He has a brilliant way of balancing continuity with progress.”
Everyone interviewed for this story spoke highly of Reynolds.
Despite being another longtime veteran of TRG, having spent 30 years of his career with the agency, most recently as executive creative director, several people interviewed said they are looking to him to revive the shop.
Reynolds was recently inducted into the 2025 American Advertising Federation’s Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame, AAF District 10. He’s recognized for work such as the launch of the Hummer automotive brand early in his career, and then leading creative at TRG for brands including Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Charles Schwab, Flowers Foods and Metro by T-Mobile.
Pattisall said Reynolds can be the change TRG needs, calling him the “real deal.”
“Terence is talented, empathetic, inspirational and kind,” Pattisall said. “He’s everything TRG needs to become something bigger and better. Stan used to dismiss employees assembled to welcome clients by performatively saying, ‘Thanks very much, folks. Now let’s go have fun.’ Under Terence Reynolds’ creative direction TRG has the chance to genuinely have fun.”
Working to get a foot in the door
Lempert said he’s started reconnecting with search consultants who used to frequently invite TRG into some of the industry’s biggest pitches. TRG has begun getting invited to pitches again, but most of the agency’s recent wins have come directly from the brands, according to Lempert.
“We were just really trying to get our bearings and we were quiet because we didn’t have a lot to say,” he said of the immediate years following Richards’ resignation. “But [now] we have a good story to tell.”
TRG recently won Gameway, a company that makes premium video game lounges for airports, becoming its first brand advertising agency of record. In addition to Schwab and World’s Best Cat Litter, the agency’s current client list includes America’s Best Eyecare + Eyewear, Scripps Health, Sewell Automotive Cos. and Nature’s Own.
TRG’s current client accounts breakdown is 60% agency-of-record business and 40% project-based, said Lempert, who noted that many of the project-based clients have grown their business with TRG following an initial project.
Lempert said TRG wants to be known for delivering category-breaking work that drives real business impact. “Lately we’ve been dealing with clients who are a little smaller, but they’re a little hungrier and they’re more interested in doing work that’s a little bit out there.”
He added: “None of our creative is worth anything if it doesn’t help build our client’s business, and that’s the way we’re going to get noticed.”
Schwab is one of TRG’s largest and longest-standing clients, operating in one of marketing’s most conservative categories, but it has trusted TRG in following a similar creative approach.
TRG was behind Schwab’s out-of-home campaign that included augmented reality murals and anamorphic 3D billboards in New York’s Times Square, intended to draw in younger investors. The 2024 effort promoted the Schwab Investing Themes tool, which allows investors to choose from themes with baskets of relevant stocks that can then be customized. The financial firm declined to provide any campaign results.
“It’s pretty out there for a financial advertising company,” Lempert said. “It was dramatic to look at. It was super attention-getting in a high-visibility spot. And it worked.”
Mixed reviews of TRG so far
Still, it may take more time to rebuild TRG’s reputation. Currently, consultants seem to have mixed feelings.
“To be honest, they are a complete non-entity,” said one agency search consultant who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The rebrand, although necessary, left them with zero equity [or] awareness and they’ve done nothing to build it back up.”
Lisa Colantuono, president of agency search firm AAR Partners, is one consultant who is apparently already won over.
“Over the past few years, TRG has transformed challenges into opportunities, demonstrating resilience and a renewed commitment to creativity and collaboration, paving the way for a brighter future,” Colantuono said. “Stan took responsibility for his actions and publicly fired himself, earning admiration from many marketers for his accountability and integrity in the face of adversity. This commitment to accountability is deeply rooted in TRG’s culture, ensuring they uphold the highest standards in all their client partnerships.”
Yet that specter still looms. Lempert admitted that many people in the industry are likely “wondering if we’re still the agency that we used to be.”
“We’re not the agency we used to be, but we are doing great,” he said. “We’re actually in an upswing right now. People tend to think of us as we were five years ago, and we’re just not that agency anymore.”
