Our Story
In 1893, L. Frank Baum visited the great World’s Fair in Chicago. Inspired by the magical architecture of the White City and the beautiful vision for the future laid out in front of him, he created the imaginary utopia of Oz. His simple tale of a troubled teen trying to get to a better place was in turn the inspiration for the naming of YELLOWBRICKROAD Communications one hundred years later.

The parallels between the golden path that led Dorothy (and by extension millions of children) to a wonderful land without poverty, disease or inequity and our company go beyond an inspired name to help shape our very beliefs. Whether a work of fiction, an inspired speech, a grass roots message or a full-fledged campaign, we believe that communication doesn’t just inspire change, it creates it. Creating change via communication requires many of the same qualities that travelers to Oz were searching for: courage, intelligence and heart. Intelligence to understand the science behind behavior change, the heart to empathize with people and treat their problems as our own and the courage to design innovative messages, tools and outlets to empower them to change. And like our heroes from Oz, we believe that we all have the potential to change within us and by working together we can make the world a better place in our lifetimes.

Our Founder

Our founder, Bob McKinnon, is one such example. Like many children, he was born under challenging circumstances. He was one of three children raised by a single mother who worked hard and long hours to support her family. Without a supportive Massachusetts welfare system, they would not have been able to get through the hardest of times, including his mother’s bout with cancer. Without a school subsidized breakfast and lunch program, he would have lacked the important nutrients to grow into a healthy adolescent. Without a local company subsidized little league program, he would not have developed a life long love of sports and physical activity. And without national financial aid programs, he would not have been able to afford a college education at Pennsylvania State University.

With this background, he began a career in advertising at one of the world’s most prestigious advertising agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi. There he rose in the ranks to become the company’s youngest Executive Vice President by the age of 30. In this capacity he served as director of various departments from Media to Business Development working with over thirty Fortune 500 Companies, while also serving on the New York Board. While director of Business Development he led teams that brought over fifteen new clients and $100MM of new revenue into the agency.

Two in particular had special relevance: The International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. While there were larger and more significant wins, these two stood out as examples of leveraging communications to the highest cause.

Leading the team that developed the I.O.C.’s campaign to celebrate the Olympic ideals, “Celebrate Humanity”, he managed the most widely viewed campaign in agency history. The campaign featured global spokespeople, such as Nelson Mandela, Christopher Reeve, Kofi Annan, Avril Lavigne and Andrea Bocelli all telling poignant stories about the true importance of the Olympics.

Importantly, he also was one of the primary architects in creating the most successful youth-based government health campaign of all time: VERB (the Center for Disease Control Youth Media Campaign promoting physical activity to fight childhood obesity). This program is producing increases in physical activity of over 30% amongst the most inactive and at risk adolescents. Key to this program was leading negotiations of over $200MM in cross media platform deals with Viacom, Time Warner, ABC/Disney, Channel One and Gruner & Jahr. In addition, as one of the primary spokespersons for the campaign, he testified regularly to key members of U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services regarding campaign status and success in order to maintain congressional funding.

The combination of these experiences compelled Bob to seek more opportunities where communication could contribute to creating a better environment for today's youth.

The first step was pursuing an advanced Master's degree in Media Studies at the New School University. There he concentrated in Children’s Media Issues and Documentary film. During this time, he was also a regular speaker on the industry circuit and developed media content that addressed issues regarding children and their families.

Armed with this combination of professional and academic experience, Bob decided to leave Saatchi & Saatchi after fifteen years and open YELLOWBRICKROAD in February of 2005.

Our Mission
YELLOWBRICKROAD is a collection of people and projects that use media and communications to create a more inspirational environment for our country’s youth. We work with government, corporations, non-profit organizations and media companies to create communications programs that help deliver their objectives AND solve the many issues that face our children today.
Our Network

There is no shortage of people and organizations who want to create a better future for our children and our country. We are in the process of creating a network that harnesses this positive energy. We are bringing together people and organizations who strive to BE the change they wish to see in this world rather than just talk about it. These are solutions-oriented individuals and organizations who believe in the power of collaboration and the need to be open minded to opposing views. Who believe that industry, government, media and pro-social organizations are not competing forces or contradictory entities. But rather that they are equal partners in a community designed to help our children unleash their potential.

This informal network includes representatives within both the private and public sector. It incorporates talent from the fields of academia, creative, media and industry. They constitute a brain trust of experience that YELLOWBRICKROAD will tap into on behalf of its partners. By bringing together multiple perspectives, intelligences and backgrounds we will ensure that our communication ideas address the concerns of all the constituencies that are important to our partners. We are very excited by the people we are currently working with and who have agreed to be members of this informal network. We look forward to sharing more details on the specific organizations and personnel that will comprise this network in the upcoming weeks.