Mark S. Robinson has spent more than four decades at the intersection of advertising, culture and storytelling. From working with major global brands to co-founding Spike/DDB with filmmaker Spike Lee, his career has given him a close view of how advertising can influence the way people see themselves and the world around them.
His latest book, Pitch Black: The Best Black Ads of the Past 50+ Years, explores an often-overlooked chapter of American advertising and cultural history, bringing together decades of work created by and for Black audiences. In this conversation with WorldAuthors.Org, Robinson talks about the inspiration behind the book, the relationship between advertising and the Civil Rights movement, his experiences in the industry, and why preserving this history matters for future generations.
To begin, could you introduce yourself to our WorldAuthors.Org readers and tell us a little about your journey in advertising, writing, and storytelling, Mark S. Robinson? You have spent more than four decades in advertising and have worked with some of the industry’s most respected agencies.
I fell in love with advertising while in college and began working in the business right after graduation. I have spent my entire adult professional career in advertising, working with major national and international brands including Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Unilever, HBO, Coors Brewing Company, Bristol Myers, Diageo, and the U.S. Army.
I am a past member of the American Advertising Federation’s Multicultural Marketing Leadership Council, a national touring lecturer for the Advertising Educational Foundation, and an ongoing mentor for the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
I was chosen by filmmaker Spike Lee to co-found and manage his ad agency, Spike/DDB. In 2001, I was recognized as the Entrepreneur of the Year for the successful launch of my own company, S/R Communications Alliance; the first 100% minority-owned network of 10 multicultural advertising companies, with combined business of $225 million.
Your new book, Pitch Black: The Best Black Ads of the Past 50+ Years, explores the history and influence of advertising created by and for Black Americans. What inspired you to tell this story now?
I retired from advertising in the summer of 2023. And when you retire, you become very nostalgic. You look back on your career and the work you have done. I started thinking about what were my favorite ads that I had done and the best ads done by people I admired. But when I started looking for those ads, I couldn’t find them. There were no collections, no archives. And as a marketer, I immediately recognized that there was a huge void here that needed filling.
You describe Pitch Black as documenting a previously unrecorded chapter in American business, fashion and culture. Why do you believe this history has remained largely overlooked?
Most people think of advertising as this ephemeral thing that exists only on the margins of our world, that advertising has no enduring effect. And most people don’t think of multicultural advertising as having any influence on their lives at all. But nothing could be further from the truth.
The book looks at how advertising became an important tool during the Civil Rights movement and helped influence perceptions of Black America. Can you share an example of how advertising helped create cultural or social change?
In the 1960s, Civil Rights activists wanted advertising to become a tool of the larger fight against racism and discrimination. They wanted mainstream advertising to become integrated (not with any cooks or maids, or waiters or porters), and they wanted Black ads to articulate a positive narrative by showing Black people in normal, American middle-class settings and activities. Civil Rights leaders understood that people believed what they saw in advertising, so they wanted Madison Avenue to create ads that showed that Black America no different from white America.
You have had an extraordinary career, including being chosen by filmmaker Spike Lee to co-found and manage Spike/DDB. How did experiences like this shape your understanding of creativity, culture and the power of advertising?
I have been extraordinarily lucky. I have had the privilege of working with incredibly talented and insightful mentors and peers. After a while, some of that wisdom rubbed off onto me.
Advertising is a mirror. It reflects our world, our own lives, and our stories. It is our ability to see ourselves and our everyday situations in these manufactured, strategically precise, quick messages that makes it so easy to embrace. The advertising mirror can be remarkably accurate. At other times, the mirror can have a funhouse effect, distorting reality just enough to make us smile. It tickles the brain, bypasses our natural defenses, and successfully gets under our skin. Sometimes, even when we hate the ad, it still achieves its intended effect.
Your previous book, Black On Madison Avenue, combined memoir with an examination of diversity in the advertising industry. How does Pitch Black build on the ideas and experiences you explored in that book?
There have been plenty of times in my career where I was working with people that I like. People that I respect. And yet I know – I know – they really don’t get it. They really don’t understand why their perceptions of Black people, and their approach to marketing to Black people, are so dysfunctional. My book tries to help people see a little more clearly by highlighting the truly good work that talented people can do, as well as understanding the principles of what made that work so good.
Pitch Black brings together advertising images selected with the involvement of Black creative leaders in advertising. What did you look for when deciding which advertisements deserved to be preserved and remembered?
I think that creativity is a very subjective thing. And I think that if you focus too much just on creativity, you exclude a lot of other important criteria. The book tends to focus more on the ads that had a clear impact on society, on the marketplace, on hearts and minds. We were looking for ads that changed perceptions and changed behavior. For a marketer, that is the gold standard. In many cases, I was initially surprised by the choices made by the panel of creative directors. But the more that I thought about it, the more I saw the wisdom of their selections.
Advertising, popular culture and commerce are now closely connected, particularly through music, fashion and social media. What lessons from the advertising of the past 50 years do you think today’s brands and young creatives should not forget?
Black advertising – advertising created for Black people or created by Black people – since its early days in the 1950s, has always done more than simply sell goods and services to Black people. Black advertising has always served and fulfilled an agenda of social responsibility and advancement in one form or another. That agenda has evolved with each decade and has been a mile marker of social, political, and cultural progress over the decades. I would not suggest that the journey is complete or that the destination has been reached. Only that the journey has been extremely worthwhile.
Finally, what do you hope readers – whether they work in advertising or simply have an interest in American history, culture and creativity—take away after reading Pitch Black?
Advertising is an oft-maligned profession. It’s the business – and the people – everyone loves to hate. I’ve heard all the insults, memes, and jokes. I don’t take them personally. There is, after all, a lot about that bad reputation that is well earned. Advertising is, for example, one of the most un-diverse white-collar professions in America. But we are better off because of advertising. I certainly believe that. I believe that Black people in America are better off because of the advertising that we created. What we did. I believe this book helps tell that story.