17127: Mickey D’s Sings, “Ba-Da-Ba-Ba-Ba-Buh-Bye, Burrell.”

Advertising Age reported Mickey D’s named Translation as AOR for the Black consumer market, replacing 50-year incumbent Burrell Communications Group.

 

Regarding the account reassignment, Burrell’s relatively new leaders—who purchased the iconic Black advertising agency in 2023—are probably not thinking, “i’m lovin’ it!” However, it’s unclear if Burrell was completely dumped from Mickey D’s roster.

 

Translation President Jonathan Akwue said, “McDonald’s is leaning on Translation as cultural experts to evolve how the brand shows up—honoring the legacy that earned its place in Black culture while finding even more relevant and authentic spaces to amplify its presence in the daily lives of [African American] consumers.”

 

The legacy that earned its place in Black culture? Um, Tom Burrell would probably argue his agency’s groundbreaking work, which began in the 1970s, created the legacy that helped the Golden Arches earn its place in Black culture.

 

McDonald’s adds Translation to its agency roster

 

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

 

McDonald’s has hired Translation as its agency of record for the African American consumer market following a review.

 

Under the remit, the agency will lead creative efforts to “deepen cultural connection and drive growth with Black consumers” across all consumer touchpoints, according to Jonathan Akwue, president of Translation.

 

Translation replaces Burrell Communications, which previously handled this work. McDonald’s declined to comment on whether it would be working with Burrell at all going forward. Burrell did not return multiple calls for comment.

 

The review was managed by MediaSense’s R3.

 

Translation’s first assignment in its new role was to help create messaging around the revival of the McDonald’s Snack Wrap. Wieden+Kennedy New York, McDonald’s creative agency of record, made the hero campaign, including ads featuring “Succession” actor Brian Cox. Translation was in charge of helping drive demand for the Snack Wrap among what McDonald’s calls the African American consumer market, as described by McDonald’s.

 

For the push, Translation created the character Unc, who is played by actor Hassan Johnson and appears in a series of ads to help influence the younger generation to try Snack Wraps for the first time. Unc also claims credit for convincing McDonald’s to revive the beloved menu item.

 

Akwue said it was critical to target younger consumers who may have missed the Snack Wrap during its first run. The item was taken off most menus in 2016.

 

“In the Black community, Unc isn’t just a relative—he’s a neighborhood staple,” Akwue said. “He’s the one at the cookout telling stories, cracking jokes and giving unsolicited wisdom. He bridges generations with credibility, humor and love. So we made Unc our messenger—the one person who can co-sign the return of the Snack Wrap and convince the youngins it’s worth the hype.”

 

Akwue said the agency’s music distribution company, UnitedMasters, was critical in the pitch to win this business. “We are extremely proud of how the entire teams at Translation and UnitedMasters came together to secure this important win,” he said.

 

McDonald’s has leaned on Translation to deliver culturally relevant work before—the two companies have a history that dates back more than 20 years. Steve Stoute, the founder and CEO of Translation and UnitedMasters, has previously noted that he and Translation were a key part of the creative process that led to the creation of the Golden Arches’ iconic “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline in 2003. Translation also worked on the 2013 “Think with Your Mouth” Big Mac campaign.

 

“We’ve long championed the power of culture as a driver of meaningful connection and business growth,” Akwue said. “McDonald’s is leaning on Translation as cultural experts to evolve how the brand shows up—honoring the legacy that earned its place in Black culture while finding even more relevant and authentic spaces to amplify its presence in the daily lives of [African American] consumers.”

 

The appointment comes as the fast-food giant has seen weakness in sales at longstanding restaurants. McDonald’s first-quarter U.S. same-store sales declined 3.6%, its largest domestic comparable sales drop since the 8.7% decline reported in the second quarter of 2020 during statewide lockdowns brought on by the COVID pandemic.

 

Morgan Flatley, McDonald’s global chief marketing officer and head of new business ventures, told Ad Age in a recent interview that her brand strategy has been to lean into fan truths—described as moments, rituals, memories, or behaviors that are inextricably linked to McDonald’s—while simultaneously promoting messaging focused in value, which is critical in reaching customers today who are more cost conscious in the shaky economy.

 

Translation’s appointment also follows McDonald’s retiring some of its diversity, equity and inclusion goals at the start of the year.

 

McDonald’s spent $690 million on U.S. measured media in 2024, up from $609 million in 2023, per MediaRadar estimates. In the first quarter of 2025, the company spent $126 million in the U.S., down from $148 million in the first quarter of 2024, according to MediaRadar.

16979: BHM 2025—Channels Changers.

 

Channels Changers—the breakthrough documentary by Lowell Thompson—is hyped as follows:

 

This powerful film shines a light on the trailblazing African American admen and women of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. It showcases their groundbreaking contributions to the advertising industry and the lasting legacy they’ve left behind.

 

Watch it via PBS now.

16699: The Latest On Lowell Thompson.

 

Reel Chicago spotlighted a screening of Channels Changers, a documentary on Chicago’s Black advertising executives created by Lowell Thompson, Alaric Martin, and others. Thompson is an original crusader in the battle for diversity in Adland, steadfastly fighting to change the channels of systemic racism in the industry and beyond.

 

Check out the Reel Chicago content, which includes lots of photos of VIP attendees.

 

The Black ad community celebrates the premiere of Channels Changers

 

By Barbara Roche

 

Members of the advertising community gathered at the Gene Siskel Center on Monday evening to honor the veterans and icons of Chicago’s Black ad agencies, whose legacies are now documented in the heartfelt film Channels Changers.

 

Produced by Gypsy Chicago Productions, Channels Changers introduces viewers to the largely unseen world of African American ad professionals of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

 

The film highlights the pioneering Black advertising executives in Chicago’s top agencies, who significantly transformed the landscape of advertising and media during that era and beyond.

 

Lowell Thompson, an expert on the subject who introduces the film, collaborated with fellow veteran adman, Cotton Stevenson, to create a documentary about this remarkable period and the Black ad trailblazers. Producer, Laurel Dobose brought in Editor, Alaric C. Martin, who throughout the evening was referred to as the Mastermind behind the film. Alaric had the enormous task of sifting through hours of footage to painstakingly create the template in which the story unfolds. Truly a labor of love by all involved.

 

Channels Changers illustrates how the Civil Rights movement and the riots following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination prompted corporate America to finally open its doors to Black people.

 

Gypsy Chicago Productions interviewed over 20 Black ad professionals from that period, including industry giants Tom Burrell and Carol H. Williams, who went on to establish nationally renowned agencies. The stories of these trailblazers reveal the significant challenges they faced as they entered the predominantly white advertising world. The film also features a number of ads, commercials, and campaigns that many may not have realized were created by African Americans.

 

Stevenson assembled a team of top-level filmmakers, many of whom were old friends from his days as a Chicago creative executive. The film’s initial funding came from the Field Foundation of Chicago and Chicago ad agencies FCB, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, and DDB, with additional financial support from a GoFundMe campaign.

 

A reception followed the screening, where old friends exchanged hugs, laughs, and memories… lots of memories. It was much like a family reunion. There were no strangers in the room. Everyone’s paths had crossed at some time during their career.

 

The documentary was created as an educational film. At this time it is not likely that it will be seen on the streaming services. For further information about Channels Changers, please contact Terry Peigh, Executive Producer (tpeigh@me.com).

 

Film Credits:

 

• Executive Producers: Cotton Stevenson, Lowell Thompson, Terry Peigh

 

• Producer: Laurel Dobose

 

• Writers: Lowell Thompson, Alaric C. Martin

 

• Consulting Producer: Alaric C. Martin

 

• Director/ Director of Photography: Bill Youmans

 

• Editor/Motion Graphics: Alaric C. Martin

 

• Sound Design & Mix: Sidney Jones, Jr. BAM Studios Chicago

 

• Colorist: Pete Jannotta, Color By Pete

 

• Trailer Colorist: Bob Sliga

 

• Title Design Animation/ Webmaster: Dani Dudovick, Double Dog Productions

 

• Videographers: Dennis Thompson Joe Brooks Cal Evans

 

• Location Sound: Dustin Berta, Case Chamberlain, Daniel Hernandez

 

• Main Title Music: Darryl Duncan, GameBeat Studios

 

• Hair and Makeup: Marcus Geeter

 

• Wheel Man: Michael J. Manhoff

 

• Legal: Ellen Duff Ratcliffe, Duff & Peel

 

• Transportation Coordinator: Maura Donahue

 

• Special Project Consultant: Bill Izzo

16424: Multicultural Majority Minority Ownership.

 

MediaPost reported that Burrell Communications Group was sold to FVLCRUM, a minority-owned private equity firm based in Rockville, Maryland. As Publicis Groupe gained minority ownership of the Black advertising agency in 1999—in order to let the shop retain its minority-owned status—FVLCRUM becomes majority minority owners. Hopefully, FVLCRUM will earn more than crumbs.

 

Burrell Communications Group Sold To New Minority Owners

 

By Steve McClellan

 

Burrell Communications Group, the highly regarded minority-owned multicultural advertising agency has been acquired by an equity consortium led by FVLCRUM Funds and Channing Johnson.

 

FVLCRUM is a minority-owned private equity firm based in Rockville, MD that specializes in impact and growth investments, while Johnson is a Los Angeles corporate attorney with decades of experience in media and entertainment. Johnson will serve as Chairman.

 

Tara DeVeaux, the former CMO of Los Angeles-based Wild Card Creative Group and Managing Director of its creative content division, 3AM, has been named the incoming CEO. She has a multifaceted background in advertising, media, and entertainment, having previously served at Y&R, SpikeDDB, and BBDO where she rose to CMO of the New York office.

 

Outgoing Co-CEOs McGhee Osse and Fay Ferguson announced the transaction today. “We are truly excited for Burrell’s next chapter,” states Osse. “It was pivotal to Fay and me to transition the company to a team that would be committed to investing in the agency, growing its capabilities and reach in the years ahead and maintaining the talent and culture that makes Burrell special.”

 

“Having jointly led Burrell for nearly two decades,” added Ferguson, “McGhee and I sought to ensure that the new ownership shared our vision, standard of values, and maintained Burrell's Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) designation.”

 

DeVeaux said, “With multicultural consumers driving most general market trends, the line between general market and multicultural advertising has never been grayer. Understanding where these consumers are now helps brands to project where they need to be in the near future, and that’s always been Burrell’s strength. I plan to build upon that legacy through a concentrated focus on data to deliver fresh insights and renewed creativity across all platforms.”

14509: Advertising Age Spotlights Segregation In Chicago Ad Community.

Advertising Age published a report titled, “City Spotlight: Chicago”—examining the advertising scene in the Windy City. The accompanying illustration depicted above highlights various shops in the area. However, while the article referenced and even spoke with an executive from Burrell Communications, the iconic agency was excluded from the rendering—during Black History Month. Nice.

14406: Toyota And Burrell To Play In The Super Bowl.

Advertising Age reported Toyota handed a Super Bowl assignment to Burrell Communications, the automaker’s Black advertising agency. So after five years, Total Toyota actually reduced the total control enjoyed by White advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi? Well, at least there’s less of a chance that the spot will be shot on a former slave plantation.

Toyota gives its multicultural shop, Burrell, a Super Bowl assignment

The automaker will plug its RAV4 crossover

By E.J. Schultz

Toyota will appear in the Super Bowl for the second straight year, and the automaker is giving its multicultural agency, Burrell Communications, the assignment. The ad will be for the 2019 RAV4 compact crossover.

Saatchi & Saatchi normally takes the creative lead on Toyota’s big general market campaigns, including previous Super Bowl ads. So Burrell’s assignment represents a significant win for the agency.

“Toyota’s multi-agency approach is part of the brand’s broader strategy to embrace diversity nuances throughout the strategy, creative and communications of all its campaigns,” Toyota said in a statement. Saatchi & Saatchi will handle “media and communications strategies” for the ad, according to the statement. But “the Super Bowl execution will tap into learnings to have Burrell Communications develop and produce the creative.”

Burrell, which is on Toyota’s roster of regular agencies, is on the upswing thanks in part to its new Social Listening Lab. The proprietary tool, developed in 2017, gathers feedback for campaigns and pitches from a focus group of 10,000 African-American influencers with a combined reach of 115 million consumers.

Toyota sat out the 2017 Super Bowl, but came back in 2018 in a big way with three ads: two 60-second spots and one 30-second ad. It represented Toyota’s biggest Super Bowl ad buy ever. The 2018 game was broadcast by NBC, which also aired the Olympics starting just days later. Toyota is an Olympics sponsor, and has a tight relationship with NBC, so the large ad buy made sense.

A Toyota spokeswoman declined to reveal the length or creative details for the ad for Super Bowl LIII, which will be carried by CBS on Feb. 3.

Ed Laukes, head of marketing for the Toyota Division, told Automotive News that RAV4 is worthy of the “biggest set of eyeballs on the planet” that it will get with the Super Bowl ad. The vehicle, which was redesigned for 2019, is the best-selling nonpickup in the nation, according to Automotive News.

Toyota is the fourth automaker to confirm a Super Bowl ad buy, following Mercedes-Benz, Kia and Hyundai.

Last season, 11 auto commercials ran featuring six brands: Ram and Jeep (both owned by Fiat-Chrysler), as well as Hyundai, Kia, Toyota and Toyota-owned Lexus. In the 2017 game, eight automakers ran a total of 10 ads. Lexus has not commented on its plans for 2019. Honda has confirmed to Ad Age that it will sit out the game for the second straight year. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a regular Super Bowl advertiser, has not yet made its plans public, and typically does not do so until the week leading up to the game.

14360: Emmett McBain—Adman, Artist & Activist.

African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce, and the Politics of Race is on view at the Chicago Cultural Center through March 3, 2019.

The exhibition includes a diverse collection of work by the late Emmett McBain, co-founder of Burrell McBain, Inc., which later became Burrell Communications Group. The 2017 AIGA Medalist also produced campaigns for Vince Cullers Advertising. In addition to McBain’s advertising, the exhibition features album covers, posters, flyers, illustrations and more.

14068: Hip Hop? Please Stop.

Adweek spotlighted Chase Zreet, a copywriter from Dallas who landed a job with Wieden + Kennedy by communicating his obsession to write for Sprite via a homemade rap video. Sprite has a long history tied to hip hop, ignited by campaigns birthed at Burrell. The work from the Black advertising agency was authentic and original. In contrast, Zreet’s brainchild is a contrived piece of shit. But it was good enough to earn him a position at the White advertising agency. Now that’s fucked up.

13832: Burrell Breaks Barriers.

Adweek reported Tom Burrell became the one Black in The One Club Creative Hall of Fame. Kudos to Burrell, but surely there are other worthy Blacks—including Georg Olden, Roy Eaton and Harry Webber—who also deserve recognition in the exclusive club.

Tom Burrell Becomes First African-American Inducted Into One Club Creative Hall of Fame

He founded Burrell Communications Group in 1971

By Erik Oster

Burrell Communications Group founder Tom Burrell, who has been breaking barriers his entire career, has added yet another one to the list.

The One Club inducted Burrell into its Creative Hall of Fame, making him the first African-American to receive the honor, which dates back to Leo Burnett’s inaugural induction in 1961. Burrell was inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame back in 2004.

A pioneer in recognizing and celebrating the purchasing power of the African-American community, Burrell coined the phrase “Black people are not dark-skinned white people.” His advertisements for Coca-Cola are archived at the Library of Congress, recognized for their cultural and historical significance.

Tom Burrell began his career in the mailroom at Wade Advertising while still at Roosevelt University. The agency’s first black employee, he soon earned himself a junior copywriting position, working on the agency’s Alka-Seltzer and Robin Hood All-Purpose Flour accounts, according to the Advertising Hall of Fame. He went on to work at several agencies, including Leo Burnett and FCB, before founding Burrell Communications Group in 1971.

He retired in 2004 and currently serves as chairman emeritus for the agency, which is now led by co-CEOs Fay Ferguson and McGhee Williams Osse and CCO Lewis Williams. Burrell Communications Group currently counts McDonald’s, P&G, Comcast, Walmart, Toyota Motor Sales Inc., AARP and Hilton among its client roster.

In addition to his work in advertising, Burrell is the author of Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority and founded nonprofit The Resolution Project to “challenge and reverse ongoing mass media stereotypes and negative race-based conditioning.”

13412: Multicultural Marketers Driven To Drink…?

Have things in multicultural marketing gotten so bad that Burrell is selling vodka on the side? Is this part of an AIMM initiative?

13321: McAgency Of The Future.

Advertising Age reported Mickey D’s fast-fed its U.S. creative business to Omnicom, and the White holding company has created a “new agency of the future” to exclusively handle the account. The mysteriously wondrous enterprise will be run by Wendy Clark. Looking forward to seeing how the McAgency is staffed, given Clark’s restless commitment to diverted diversity and faux dedication to true diversity, as well as her focus on recruiting and retaining top talent. “Omnicom has built a new agency of the future for us,” gushed McDonald’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl. “This agency of the future really has digital and data at the heart, which allows us to be customer obsessed at a whole new level in everything that we do.” Wow, somebody’s drinking the McKool-Aid. Did Omnicom have to erect an “agency of the future” because its current clan of White advertising agencies is stuck in the past? And will the digital and data include diversity? Finally, it could be bad news for Burrell—the Black advertising agency under the Publicis Groupe umbrella—who has serviced Ronald McDonald and his crew for decades. Will Burrell keep the Golden Arches or get a golden shower?

McDonald’s Picks Omnicom as Winner of U.S. Creative Review

Holding Company Will Set Up Dedicated Agency Led by Wendy Clark

By Jessica Wohl

Did somebody say Omnicom?

After a hard-fought four-month review, McDonald’s has chosen Omnicom Group over Publicis Groupe to handle its U.S. creative account. The Omnicom pitch for the country’s largest fast-feeder was led by DDB North America CEO Wendy Clark, who will have oversight over a new, as yet unnamed agency dedicated exclusively to McDonald’s.

“Omnicom has built a new agency of the future for us,” said McDonald’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl in an interview with Ad Age. “This agency of the future really has digital and data at the heart, which allows us to be customer obsessed at a whole new level in everything that we do.”

Ms. Wahl said that beginning Jan. 1, 2017, McDonald’s work will be handled solely by the new Omnicom operation, which will be based in Chicago. McDonald’s plans to move its headquarters from suburban Oak Brook, Ill., back to Chicago by early 2018. It was not immediately clear who would lead the team itself. Ms. Clark will have oversight of the agency, McDonald’s said.

The decision, which ends one of the most closely watched reviews in recent years, means that Publicis’ Leo Burnett Co., which has worked with McDonald’s for 35 years, will no longer be on the U.S. roster. However, Publicis will still have some business for the fast-feeder outside the country.

“Publicis as a whole has been a great partner and we continue to value the relationship,” Ms. Wahl said.

The review began in late April and included Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe and WPP, which dropped out of the process this spring.

When WPP dropped out of the race for the McDonald’s account, some suggested it was because the chain was asking the companies to work at cost. “That was not from us at all,” Ms. Wahl said. “It wasn’t about a cost exercise or not paying anything to the agency. The purpose is to look, again, in this new world where the level of storytelling and creative is so exponential, how do you do that in a way that makes sense and that you can afford to do.”

Still, McDonald’s is “adding a pay-for-performance aspect to it,” Ms. Wahl said, based on metrics that will be a mutually agreed upon mix of more classic marketing metrics and brand health, along with items such as restaurant sales and traffic, or the number of visits. She declined to be more specific.

For McDonald’s, a key factor in its choice was this new agency model, which Ms. Wahl said should enable the brand to be faster and more flexible and allow the agency to handle an increasing number of assignments.

“It’s poised to deliver the caliber and certainly the volume of storytelling that’s needed to support our business today which, frankly, has increased exponentially and we think that trend is going to continue,” Ms. Wahl said. She stressed that digital and data will be at the core of the new agency and should help the massive brand personalize its consumer engagement.

McDonald’s was the 28th largest advertiser in the United States in 2015, spending $1.43 billion, according to the Ad Age Datacenter.

The review only covered the U.S. creative account. Omnicom Media Group’s OMD Worldwide, McDonald’s existing media agency, was not involved in the pitch at all in order to keep the process “extremely equitable,” Ms. Wahl said. Neither was DDB’s Alma, which does some of McDonald’s multicultural work.

McDonald’s is the latest big win for Omnicom. Earlier this month, AT&T consolidated its creative, digital and media accounts with the holding company.

The way Ms. Wahl sees it, the dedicated agency model should help eliminate obstacles that can arise when multiple agencies, even agencies within the same holding company, collaborate and have different targets and budgets. “It’s going to be a whole new era of creativity and new models that will be fantastic for the business and the industry overall,” Ms. Wahl said.

Before making its decision, McDonald’s met multiple times with both Omnicom and Publicis. The process included several “chemistry sessions,” as Ms. Wahl described them, including having each holding company choose a location. For that meeting, Omnicom took over a whole floor and showed how it would set up the new agency, giving McDonald’s a sense of how it would look and feel different.

For now, there are no plans to initiate reviews on other aspects of the U.S. business, such as public relations and multicultural work. Also not changing, at least for now, is the “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline, which was not part of the brief or pitch process. “We’ll see where that develops, but for now ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ remains,” Ms. Wahl said.

The agency overhaul comes as McDonald’s makes changes to its food, decor and other aspects of its business and tries to establish deeper connections with its customers through a mobile app and other updates. CEO Steve Easterbrook stepped into his role in March 2015 to help the Golden Arches out of a prolonged sales slump, particularly in its home market. McDonald’s began posting positive sales at longstanding U.S. locations in the third quarter of 2015 after nearly two years of declines.

13017: Toyota Totaled.

Wow, maybe the Total Toyota trash ain’t too terrible after all. This RAV4 Hybrid campaign from Toyota’s Black advertising agency is a comedic car wreck. It’s impossible to identify a single funny moment among Teachers Lounge, Dodgeball, High Price, Maintenance, Why Wouldn’t Ya, Cost Savings, Styling and Mileage.

12943: Multicultural Campaigning.

From NBC News…

Clinton Campaign Hires Black Owned Advertising Firm

By Lauren Victoria Burke

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has hired Burrell Communications, an African American advertising and media firm.

Based in Chicago and Los Angeles, the firm is owned by two African American women, McGhee Williams Osse and Faye Ferguson, both seasoned marketing and advertising professionals.

Burrell Communications, founded in 1971, will assist the campaign in focusing on African American voters, targeting their concerns and issues as Clinton moves forward towards the first primary and caucus tests.

In 2012, African American women showed up big at the polls and delivered the highest voter turnout of any voters, between the ages of ages 18 to 29, in the U.S. electorate.

Though many political observers wonder if that level of voter participation was only possible because President Obama’s name was on the ballot, Clinton is expected to fight hard to assemble Obama’s coalition of voters as the cornerstone of a winning strategy.

It’s likely Burrell Communications’ influence will be seen in South Carolina, where Black voters are a big key in a race primarily between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Ms. Williams Osse even completed her completed post-graduate advertising studies at the University of South Carolina.) The South Carolina primary is on February 27th and currently Clinton is polling ahead.

“We choose to be an agency that specializes in the African-American market. This is our DNA — our passion... and we believe that we are responsible to the community to whom we speak — the African-American community; our community,” the Burrell website reads regarding the company’s overall mission. The firm has designed campaigns for major corporations ranging from McDonald’s to Toyota to General Mills to American Airlines.

These new hires add to other African American hires who are currently working for Clinton.

The most prominent of those hires includes LaDavia Drane, who is Hillary Clinton’s Director of African American Outreach, Marlon Marshall, who is Clinton’s Director of Political Engagement, and Karen Finney, Clinton’s strategic communications adviser and spokesperson. Finney also worked for Clinton during her run for Senate in 2000.

The campaign also hired well known political veteran Ron Lester to focus on the campaign’s African American polling.

12633: How Jimmy Smith Made It.

From The Los Angeles Times…

How I Made It: Advertising veteran Jimmy Smith

By Ronald D. White

The gig: Advertising veteran Jimmy Smith, 53, has orchestrated award-winning work for brands including Nike and Gatorade, the latter involving the adoption of the more edgy “G” in packaging and marketing the sports drink. Since 2011, Smith has been chief executive and chief creative officer of Amusement Park Entertainment, which he founded with advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group, to develop “branded entertainment” — industry lingo for making the product or brand the centerpiece of an app, game, event, television show or movie, rather than creating an ad that viewers can ignore.

Another gig: Smith has added more traditional advertising and marketing back into his playbook. His businesses will operate as part of a larger company called simply Amusement Park, formed with longtime executives from DGWB Advertising & Communications. Smith is chairman and chief creative officer of the new firm. Partners Mike Weisman, Ed Collins and Jon Gothold have taken on the jobs of CEO, president and executive creative director, respectively. The venture operates out of offices in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, where DGWB has occupied the town’s historic city hall. Combined, the businesses have nearly 90 employees.

Parental influence: Smith, born in Muskegon, Mich., points to the determination of his father, James, to leave factory work and run his own business, eventually acquiring a restaurant franchise. “It was the first time that I could remember of a black person owning something in Muskegon,” Smith said. “It stayed in my head that I could do that too.” His mother, Evelyn, was a teacher and his language guide. “I couldn’t speak or write or do anything, from a very young age, without being corrected on the right way to do it by my mom, in a healthy way.”

Becoming “Bewitched”: Branding and advertising was an early career idea, Smith said, that he got from “Bewitched,” a sitcom that ran from 1964 to 1972 about New York ad exec Darrin Stephens. In the show, Stephens marries a witch, Samantha. The only drawback was having an evil witch — Endora — for a mother-in-law. “Darrin’s wife was beautiful,” Smith said. “He had a big house and if it wasn’t for Endora, it seemed like a pretty easy gig.”

Fallback plan: Smith attended Michigan State from 1981 to 1984. He majored in advertising but still entertained his childhood dream of becoming a professional basketball player. Michigan State has one of the nation’s most successful men’s basketball programs. “After I was cut from the Michigan State basketball team three years in a row,” Smith said, “I thought, ‘OK, I think I need to make this advertising thing happen.’”

ABCs of advertising: “I went to New York, Detroit, Chicago, anywhere I could go to get a job interview.” At Chicago’s Burrell Advertising (now Burrell Communications), one of the largest multicultural marketing firms in the world, Smith forgot the name of the person he was supposed to see. Despite the mix-up, Smith got the job. There he met a young co-worker named Lewis Williams, now Burrell’s chief creative officer, who “taught me the ABCs of advertising,” Smith said. “The main thing he taught me was huge. ‘They try to act like it’s a secret. They act like it’s rocket science. Advertising is not rocket science.’ That gave me confidence. It allowed me to feel comfortable any time I was presenting an idea.”

Becoming a mad man: The business “was intimidating because mostly they don’t like what you are presenting,” Smith said. “You go in and get to be humiliated. It’s personal. It’s mine and my team’s idea and they are just putting bullet holes in it. That is the way it is in advertising.” Smith built his name as he moved from agency to agency, including Wieden + Kennedy, where he was a writer and creative director for the Nike account; BBDO, where he was executive creative director; and TBWA\Chiat\Day’s L.A. office, where he was Gatorade’s group creative director.

Appealing to all: Having been told that his ad ideas were “not black enough” or “too black,” Smith said he liked the atmosphere at Muse Cordero Chen in the 1990s. There, he said, one “could walk down halls and hear Mandarin at one moment, Spanish the next, someone else speaking Japanese. If you are only a black agency, then your ideas are only going to come from that culture, same thing if you are at a white agency. But if you mix all of those cultures together, that’s where the most powerful ideas are going to come from.”

Diversity: Smith said he has tried to foster creative freedom in his diverse team, which draws from the worlds of sports, art and entertainment. “Find that coach who is going to give you the green light, who understands what you do, the value that you bring,” he advises.

Family affair: Smith’s wife, Smoke, works at Amusement Park Entertainment, as do their sons, Sequel, 28, and Jarrel, 27. Work is never far away, even when he and his wife manage to get away to a concert. “When I’m at the concert, it’s always, ‘Maybe I can use Lil Wayne in that,’ or some other idea. You can’t help it.”

11898: The Decline Of Black Ad Shops.

Tavis Smiley led a panel discussion on the decline of Black advertising agencies. The event starred Burrell Communications Group Co-CEO McGhee Osse, Carol H. Williams Advertising President and CEO Carol H. Williams and EMorris Communications Founder Eugene Morris (ironically, Morris recently shuttered his shop, underscoring the theme of the panel). There seem to be a few perpetual problems with these examinations that beg for commentary.

First, no one—particularly anyone at a White advertising agency—is listening. The talkfest doesn’t even warrant a post at The Big Tent. It didn’t help that the participants offered nothing new, regurgitating the familiar gripes. For example, Black advertising agencies have been stressing that Black culture innovates and influences popular culture since the 1950s or earlier. Too bad Black advertising agencies have failed to capitalize on this truth—at least in terms of gaining respect and fair billings from clients. Regardless, a productive conversation about the decline of Black advertising agencies must also include White adpeople and clients.

Second, Black advertising agencies are partly responsible for their own predicament. Accepting second-class citizenship—and the crumbs that come with it—is a self-defeating position. Granted, White advertising agencies and clients have co-conspired to prevent minority shops from moving beyond District 9 conditions. Yet Black advertising agencies have contributed to the separate-but-unequal mess by enjoying the political benefits, assuming a lesser role and contentedly swallowing smaller slices of the proverbial marketing pie.

Third, Black advertising agencies appear to be stuck in a rut. When was the last time a Black advertising agency produced consistently outstanding creative work? Even when a shop like Translation manages to win major brand assignments, the resulting ads are not great. The industry is driven by breakthrough campaigns. If you don’t deliver, you won’t leap forward. Unless you establish and secure an identity rooted in conservative mediocrity such as mcgarrybowen or Zimmerman. Unfortunately, Black advertising agencies will never succeed with such a privileged tactic. (On a semi-related note, the Smiley forum took a pathetic turn when participants whined about young White people allegedly running things, as the remarks made the agency leaders sound old and outdated.)

A fourth problem involves the continued debates featuring Total Market mumbo-jumbo. Osse insisted that minority advertising agencies are actually best qualified to lead Total Market efforts. Bwahahaha! The naïve notion provides a natural segue to a fifth dilemma: namely, the industry power structure fueled by holding companies. For Black advertising agencies, holding companies are Death Stars. If you’re tied to a holding company, as Burrell is tied to Publicis Groupe, expect to be pigeonholed and shackled to minority status. Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Lévy will see to that. No way will even Omnicom CEO and Pioneer of Diversity John Wren permit a non-White agency to chase billings earmarked for White agencies within the network. And if you’re independent, expect to be completely shut out from opportunities to compete for White billings—or non-White billings. In short, holding companies keep minorities and minority agencies in their place.

But again, Black advertising agencies have historically seemed satisfied to stay in their place. Sadly, the leaders at these shops only tend to speak out when their very existences are threatened by extermination. Hell, the decline of Black advertising agencies probably started minutes after the niche was invented. The descent has been happening forever, and it is arguably connected to the industry’s global failure with diversity. It’s tough to stage a revolution when you don’t have the numbers—or a majority support of the ruling White class. And you ultimately wind up presenting your case to Tavis Smiley in the sucky vacuum of minority media.

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Panel Discussion—The Decline of Black-Owned Advertising Agencies

According to research conducted by the Nielsen Company, African Americans will have collective buying power of $1.1 trillion by next year. Yet, over the past decade, an increasing number of companies have cut budgets for advertising aimed at Black consumers. The trend is directly reflected in the decline of advertising agencies owned and operated by African Americans. Advertising executives McGhee Osse, co-CEO of Burrell Communications Group, Carol H. Williams, president and CEO of Carol H. Williams Advertising, and Eugene Morris, founder of the recently shuttered EMorris Communications, join us for an extensive discussion of the trend.

10381: Cool Cross-Cultural Conference Coming!

Oh boy! Ogilvy & Mather is holding its 2nd Annual Cross-Cultural Conference on October 22, 2012. The gala event will take place at “The Chocolate Factory,” 636 11th Avenue, New York, New York. According to the self-hype, “The 2012 conference promises to be a day filled with learnings, insights, sharing, and networking with cross-cultural thought leaders.” Gee, maybe the keynote speakers will include Tanner Colby. But don’t expect the “learnings” to feature results from the recent study conducted by Burrell. Additional self-hype claimed, “Over the past year, OgilvyCULTURE delivered cross-cultural strategic solutions for global brands within the retail, furniture, airline, energy, beverage, beauty and packaged goods categories”—which probably means the minority executives weren’t allowed to actually produce any work, handing over the “cross-cultural solutions” to their culturally clueless White associates.

10337: Glassdoor Black Ad Agency Reviews.

According to the self-hype on its website, “Glassdoor is your free inside look at jobs and companies.” The reviews posted for Black advertising agencies make AgencySpy seem downright polite. GlobalHue apparently features many dissatisfied employees. The workers are even more unhappy at Burrell. And it gets worse at UniWorld. Carol H. Williams represents the lowest morale level. The only major player with allegedly happy campers is Sanders\Wingo in Texas.

10328: Going Back For Dinnertimin’ Seconds.

The 1976 Mickey D’s advertisement (depicted above) spotlighted in a previous post warrants a revisit after spotting the parody (depicted below) that was left in the comments at Copyranter on Buzzfeed. The funny guy responsible is completely wrong in his presumption that a White advertising executive created the original message. The work was almost certainly hatched at a Black agency, probably Burrell. If anything, the heavy-handed copy shows what Black advertising executives were forced to do in order to appease the culturally clueless perceptions of Black people held by White advertiser executives. Sad thing is, the clients’ demands have not changed much in over 30 years. And neither have most Black agencies.

10208: Emmett McBain (1935-2012).

From Target Market News…

Emmett McBain, Burrell Advertising co-founder and prominent artist, dies at 77

Emmett McBain, a renowned water color artist, and co-founder of what became the largest African-American owned advertising agency in the U.S., died on Tuesday, May 22 at his home in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The agency he started in 1971 was Burrell McBain, Inc. and would go on to be known as Burrell Communications Group.

McBain and co-founder, Thomas J. Burrell opened the ad agency in to focus on the African-American consumer, Black families and relationships. In short order, the agency succeeded in its ability to interpret client’s messages and gain the loyalty of black consumers.

“Emmett was key in getting the agency started in the early days,” said Tom Burrell. He was a visual thinker, always had fresh ideas to the approach of marketing, my senior in the business and I looked to him for leadership,” said Burrell adding that McBain left a long standing impression on him. “He said something that really resonated with me which was, ‘there is always a reason to not do something’ and from that moment we worked toward creating an agency.”

Born in 1935, McBain attended Sexton Elementary School and Tilden Technical High School in Chicago and following graduation, studied advertising design. He attended the Ray Vogue Art School, the American Academy of Art, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. He later became a designer for Vince Cullers and Associates, an art supervisor at J. Walter Thompson, a creative consultant for Soft Sheen Products, and ultimately the co-founder of Burrell McBain, Inc.

An inventory of visual advertising has been created in McBain’s honor at the University of Illinois at Chicago Library, entitled “Emmett McBain Design Papers.” The collection includes print ads, transparencies of billboards and record album covers ranging in date from 1961 to 2000. The assortment of works also includes the series of ads for Philip Morris, McDonald’s print ads, and others.

In 1974, McBain left Burrell McBain to pursue a career in art and independent design in Chicago’s Hyde Park community, where he has since lived.

“Emmett was a pioneer in the advertising industry and a gifted artist,” said McGhee Williams Osse, Co-CEO of Burrell Communications Group. “To know him was to be intrigued and always fascinated by his wit, talent and very interesting perspectives about culture, life, and world affairs.”

McBain is survived by 8 children, 8 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. A memorial is being planned to take place at the DuSable Museum, 740 East 56th Place, Chicago on Saturday, June 30th, at 2 pm.

7460: Burrell On Brainwashing.

Check out the coverage at Kiss My Black Ads.