George Batten was born in Gloucester County, New Jersey on June 19, 1854.

[1][2] He attended private schools, and worked as a traveling salesman for the Philadelphia wool manufacturer Folwell Brother & Company for ten years.

[2] Batten moved to New York City in 1888 to work as advertising manager for Funk & Wagnalls periodicals such as The Literary Digest, The Voice, and The Homiletic Review.

He opened the George Batten Newspaper Advertising Agency on Park Row in Manhattan in 1891.

[3] His $8 million billing agency was merged with the $23 million Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO) in 1928, after both agencies had moved into the new office building at 383 Madison Avenue, to create BBDO.