Black Ad Pioneers

In honor of Black History Month, we’ve been featuring profiles on our social media channels of Black Americans that have made significant contributions to our country and to the world at large. Yet, we would be remiss if we didn’t include a few pioneers from our own industry, advertising. Below, are nine Black advertising and marketing trail blazers who don’t get nearly the notoriety they deserve.

Herb Kemp
Herb Kemp was one of the nation’s leading pioneers of multicultural marketing and advertising. Kemp earned an MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and served as a senior executive at both J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, before rising to president of UniWorld Group. Kemp also spent 11 years with the Chisholm-Mingo Group. After retiring in 2000, he ran his own consultancy service he named What’s Black About It? Kemp died in 2011 at age 69.

Carol Williams
Carol Williams created some of the most memorable advertising campaigns in history, including the Secret Antiperspirant campaign “Strong Enough For a Man, But Made For A Woman.” Hailing from Chicago’s South Side, Williams founded the Carol H. Williams Advertising Agency in 1986. Now the nation’s largest independent female-owned black communications agency, her clients include the U.S. Army, Buick and Wells Fargo.

Byron E. Lewis
Having earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Long Island University, Byron E. Lewis started his career as a newspaperman. Yet in 1969, with the help of venture capitalists, Lewis founded the UniWorld Group to market to Black and Latino communities. For over 40 years, UniWorld has landed some of the largest accounts, including AT&T, Burger King, Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Marine Corp, and Home Depot. A true visionary, Byron E. Lewis was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2013.

Frank L. Mingo Jr.
Frank L. Mingo Jr. changed not only the way minorities are portrayed in ads, but also the way they are marketed to. Mingo was the first Black executive at the legendary agency J. Walter Thompson, later climbing to vice president at McCann Erickson. In 1977, he joined forces with another Black visionary, Caroline R. Jones, and founded Mingo-Jones Advertising. Frank died in 1989 at the age of 49, and was posthumously elected into the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Fame.

Caroline R. Jones
Graduating from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1963, Caroline Jones began her career as a secretary at the J. Walter Thompson agency. Soon, however, she began demonstrating her skills as a copywriter. After gaining experience at several shops, Jones became the first Black female vice president of a major agency, BBDO. In 1977, Caroline joined Frank L. Mingo and co-founded Mingo-Jones Advertising, which created the “We Do Chicken Right” campaign for Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 1986, she opened Caroline Jones, Inc., where she created the “Because You’re Worth It” campaign for L’Oréal. Jones died of breast cancer in 2001 at age 59.

Thomas J. Burrell
Though his introduction to the ad biz began in an agency mailroom, Thomas Burrell soon proved his merit as a copywriter. After honing his skills on several national accounts for major agencies, including Leo Burnett, he founded Burrell McBain Advertising in 1971, which later became Burrell Communications. Burrell landed several major clients, including McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. Burrell retired in 2003 and is a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame. In 1999, the advertising conglomerate Publicis acquired 49 percent of Burrell Communications.

Barbara Gardner Proctor
Barbara Proctor was the first African American woman to own and operate an advertising agency. After paying her dues at a couple of ad agencies in Chicago, she founded Proctor & Gardner Advertising in 1970 to market to Black communities. It quickly became the second largest African American advertising agency in the United States. In 1974, she was named the Chicago Advertising Woman of the Year by the Woman’s Ad Club, and chosen as "Advertising Person of the Year" by the sixth district of the American Advertising Federation in 1975.

Vincent Cullers
A pioneer of multicultural advertising in the United States, Vincent Cullers began his career as an art director at Ebony magazine. In 1956, he founded Vince Cullers Advertising, the nation’s first Black advertising agency. Along with his wife Marian, Vincent mentored countless African American creatives, many of whom went on to other high-profile positions in the industry, as well as agency ownership. In 2006, he was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Cullers died in 2003 at age 79.

Georg Olden
Georg Olden was an award-winning art director who worked in both TV and advertising. In 1945, he was hired by CBS and ultimately advanced to on-air promotions chief. By 1961, he had transitioned to mainstream advertising and worked as a group art director for BBDO Television and McCann Erickson. In fact, Olden designed the Clio statuette, advertising’s “Oscar,” and proceeded to win seven of them. The Japanese magazine Idea once recognized him as one of the top fifteen graphic designers in the United States. Georg died in 1975 at the age of 54.