The ADVERTISING Club of New York and the Mixed Company podcast team have partnered to pay homage to the Black “Icons, Rock Stars, & Innovators”of the Golden Age and today!
This digital exhibition explores the history of African Americans in the advertising, highlights some of the iconic campaigns created by and featuring them, and spotlights the trailblazers of the past and present.
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Vol. 1 Marc Strachan
Chairman, ADCOLOR
VOL. 2: SHELDON LEVY
Filmmaker / Producer
VOL. 3: TIFFANY R. WARREN
Senior VP, Chief Diversity Officer for Omnicom Group | Founder, ADCOLOR
VOL. 4: Tasha Gilroy
Director of Inclusion and Community, VMLY&R
VOL. 5: VALERIE GRAVES
Author, Former CCO, Vigilante & UniWorld Group
These videos explore the rise of African Americans on Madison Avenue and the industry’s shift to acknowledging their buying power.
African American Advertising History Exhibition
AdViews: Jason Chambers, author of Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry.
THE SECRET OF SELLING THE NEGRO
The Black Madmen and women of the Golden Age, the mid-1960s to the early-1990s, blazed new paths that reshaped how Blacks were seen in the media.
Barbara Gardner Proctor, was a trailblazing Chicago businesswoman who brought the Beatles' music to America—literally—as a Vee-Jay Records executive, and the first African American woman to own an advertising agency.
Valerie Graves was part of the UniWorld team that won the Burger King general market account in 1993. They took the account from a major Madison Avenue agency. In vol. 1 of our series, Marc Strachan spoke to the effectiveness of multicultural agency talent and UniWorld's performance here is proof.
What makes some of the creative leaders of our industry legends? What or who inspired them to pursue the career they did? What inspires them today? And how do they inspire those around them to think differently? Carol Williams, the writer of Secret Deodorant’s iconic “Strong enough for a man” tag line, talks about her journey to the Hall of Fame.
"If you were white, I'd hire you immediately.” That's how Advertising Hall of Famer Roy Eaton recalls his first job interview at Young & Rubicam, where he began his career in 1955. In 1955, Young & Rubicam hired Roy Eaton, a Phi Beta Kappa with a master’s degree in music. Mr. Eaton, who applied to the agency virtually on a whim, talked executives into letting him write tryout ad copy, and then sample jingles.
From the big ideas to the original music, Black Americans were a part of bringing these TV ads to life from start to finish.
Print ads created by and featuring Black Americans.
“Strong Enough for a Man, But Made for a Woman” is an iconic tagline written by Carol H. Williams early in her career. In 2017, Williams became the first African-American woman creative inducted into American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame.
Carol H. Williams founded Carol H. Williams Advertising (CHWA) more than three decades ago after recognizing the need for advertising that speaks to the sophisticated and influential African-American and urban markets. Started in 1986 in Carol’s living room, CHWA now has offices in Oakland, CA, Chicago, and New York City. A highly diverse and skilled staff produces award-winning advertising and marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies—including General Motors, The Walt Disney Company., Coors Brewing Co, US Army, General Mills, Kraft, Gilead Sciences, HP, Allstate Insurance, Procter & Gamble (My Black Is Beautiful; Pantene and CoverGirl), Marriott, Partnership For a Drug Free America and several others. CHWA’s annual billings exceeded $100 million for more than a decade.
Many ads were cultural signs of the time. Black is beautiful is a cultural movement that was started in the US in the 1960s by African Americans.
