Publicis & Hal Riney is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 advertising agency

Advertising agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...

, founded in San Francisco in 1977 by Hal Riney

Hal Riney

Hal Patrick Riney was an American advertising executive.Founder of Publicis & Hal Riney, Riney was named #30 on the Advertising Age 100 people of the 20th century. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2001.Riney grew up in Longview, Washington...

 as Hal Riney & Partners. He had previously led the west coast office of Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...

 since 1976.

They are best known for their award-winning work on Saturn automobiles and HP

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

. Other notable campaigns have been for Sprint

Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...

, Crocker Bank, Perrier

Perrier

Perrier is a brand of bottled mineral water made from a spring in Vergèze in the Gard département of France. The spring is naturally carbonated...

, Alamo Rent A Car

Alamo Rent A Car

Alamo Rent a Car is the third-largest car rental agency in the United States. Based in Clayton, Missouri, it has branches across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, parts of Africa, Europe, and Australia, and various Caribbean islands...

, Henry Weinhard's

Henry Weinhard's

Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve and Blitz-Weinhard are brands of beer first brewed in 1856 in Portland, Oregon, United States. The brewery was owned by the brewer Henry Weinhard of the Weinhard family, who also made a line of soft drinks which survives to this day.The Blitz-Weinhard brand was...

, E & J Gallo Winery

E & J Gallo Winery

E & J Gallo Winery was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest exporter of California wines and is a large promoter of wines from Sonoma County.-History:...

 (specifically Bartles & Jaymes

Bartles & Jaymes

Bartles & Jaymes is a flavored wine cooler and malt beverage line produced by the E & J Gallo Winery in the United States, and introduced in 1981. Flavors include Strawberry Daiquiri, Fuzzy Navel, Exotic Berry, Margarita, Piña Colada, Classic Original, Tropical Mango, Blue Hawaiian, Strawberry...

).
Riney had previously created and narrated the noted Morning in America

Morning in America

"Morning in America" is the common name of an effective political campaign television commercial formally titled "Prouder, Stronger, Better" and featuring the opening line "It's morning again in America." The ad was part of the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign of Republican Party candidate Ronald...

 and Bear in the woods

Bear in the woods

"There is a bear in the woods" was the opening line of a television commercial for the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign of Republican Party candidate Ronald Reagan. Before the ad was created, the public seemed more comfortable with the way Walter Mondale described how he would negotiate than they...

 television commercials for the successful Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 1984 Presidential re-election

United States presidential election, 1984

The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...

 campaign.

The agency was purchased by Publicis

Publicis

Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France. It is one of the world's three largest advertising holding companies . Its current president is Maurice Lévy. Publicis Groupe S.A...

 in 1998.

In 2008, the agency was awarded a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...

for its work on a website for AAA. Current clients include U.S. Cellular, Chimay, Pogo.com, HP, Compaq and Walmart.