Genre: Memoir
Description:
“Advertising decides what America wants. And yet, for an industry that
professes to be the vanguard of creativity, popular culture and forward
thinking, advertising is one of the most un-diverse white-collar professions in
America. Surprisingly, despite all of its public gestures of ‘wokeness’,
Madison Avenue would like to keep it that way.
Black on Madison Avenue explains how – and why – the author landed on
Madison Avenue, and shares some of his incredible adventures over the past 40+
years. Yes, adventures. Have you ever gotten into a shouting match with a
Venezuelan Army general in the middle of a military coup? He has. He kidnapped
advertising legend Jim Jordan, insulted high-ranking Chinese government
officials at a formal dinner and launched the first multicultural marketing
holding company.
Mark Robinson was the co-founder of Spike/DDB, along with filmmaker
Spike Lee and has stories no one else could tell. Robinson’s stories include
Bill Cosby, Mike Tyson, Vanessa Williams, Usher, Oprah, Zsa Zsa Gabor, James
Brown and Notorious B.I.G.”
Author:
Mark S. Robinson is a longtime employee, manager, and founder of
various New York based advertising agencies. He lives with his wife in
Connecticut.
Appraisal:
I often say that many books, but especially memoirs, often have one of
two effects when you read them, depending on your situation and that of the
protagonist or subject of the memoir. If they’re like you, it gives a chance to
compare experiences and can sometimes give you a different perspective on your
own life. But if the author’s life is much different than yours, it can help
you better understand others which is a positive for all concerned.
This book definitely fits that second option for me as my career
couldn’t have been much different from Mark Robinson’s work in advertising, not
to mention my pale skin that would help me blend in on Madison Avenue.
Surprisingly I also spotted some things where our experiences were the same.
For example how if you do good work the connections at one job will often help
lead to other opportunities at different companies.
This book is structured as a series of stories, with each chapter
containing a story that could stand alone, but what happens in one will often
relate to things that happened in another in such a way that you’ll see the
patterns and how things evolved over time in some ways and not in others for
Robinson and other blacks in the advertising business which is, as he says, “one
of the whitest white-collar professions in America.” You’ll also see plenty of
proof, not just anecdotal, but some data to back it up. In the end I found this
to be an enlightening and interesting read for me about an industry I’d have
said I wasn’t that interested in, and yet it effects all of us and I found seeing
how it functioned from an insiders perspective to be interesting.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words
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