Advertising
Age reported The Martin Agency turned Chief Client Officer Danny Robinson
into Chief Creative Officer—extending his Jackie Robinson-like status at the
White advertising agency. That is, Robinson was the first
Black man to elevate to the shop’s C-suite as Chief Client Officer, and now
he becomes the first Black man to hold the Chief Creative Officer role. No
doubt that Robinson is right—and even overqualified—for the latest promotion.
Yet it’s odd that his elevation is groundbreakingly unique in Richmond,
Virginia, where the metropolitan area boasts the 20th largest Black
population in the U.S. Such inclusive figures, however, have never impacted
the dismal diversity of the advertising industry.
The Martin Agency Names Danny Robinson Chief Creative
Officer
By Lindsay Rittenhouse
Interpublic Group of Cos.’ The Martin Agency has named
Danny Robinson chief creative officer. Robinson was previously chief client
officer and replaces Karen Costello, who on Tuesday announced her decision to return to IPG sibling Deutsch Los Angeles as
its chief creative officer.
Robinson has been
with The Martin Agency since 2004, when he was poached to be a senior VP and
group creative director by Mike Hughes, who served as president and chief
creative of the agency from 1995 to 2013. Hughes passed away from lung cancer
at the age of 65.
“Other than I
love it, the thing that keeps me here is the same thing that brought me here,”
Robinson says, which is the opportunity to step into and shape any job he
wants.
Robinson recalls
how Hughes attempted to entice him to move from New York—where he was
serving as chief creative officer of the agency he co-founded,
Vigilante—to Richmond, Virginia, to join the The Martin Agency’s creative team.
He says Hughes asked him: “‘What will it take to get you to come to
Martin?’”
Hughes was
looking to poach Robinson after his award-winning campaigns for Johnnie
Walker Black Label, Major League Baseball, Snapple and Heineken caught his
attention. So did a famous brand activation Robinson helped orchestrate while
at his New York agency: The giveaway of 276 Pontiac G6 cars on “The Oprah
Winfrey Show” that gifted the world with the iconic phrase: “You get a car!”
Robinson laughs when
he remembers that iconic Winfrey brand activation, noting how some “myths” have
since surrounded “how that came together” including that a partner of Vigilante
pitched it on a plane to Gayle King, the media personality and an editor of “O,
The Oprah Magazine.”
He says the
truth of the matter was that Pontiac was a client of Vigilante’s and the agency
decided to “spend all the money they had, the whole budget, on one idea to give
away cars.” He notes that Winfrey “pretty much owned it” as she came up with
the “You get a car!” phrase.
Since joining The
Martin Agency, Robinson is credited with helming the agency’s largest win
in history: Walmart. He is also praised by the shop for his acclaimed work on
accounts such as Chevrolet, Hanes, Tic Tac and Oreo. The Martin Agency CEO
Kristen Cavallo says Robinson was “the logical choice” to replace Costello “for
so many reasons.”
Making history
Robinson made
history as The Martin Agency’s first chief client officer and first African
American to join the shop’s C-suite when he was appointed to that role in
2018.
Now, Robinson
becomes The Martin Agency’s first Black chief creative officer, taking over
from Costello, the agency’s first female chief creative officer. Cavallo, who
is the agency’s first female CEO, notes how “skeptics might suggest this is a
symbolic choice, and they said the same thing when I became CEO and appointed
Karen to CCO.”
“It’s fascinating
that the misfits, those who are a minority by gender or race, have to defend
they are qualified,” Cavallo says. “I believe in [Robinson] and I believe in
our friendship. I have always fought for him. He fights positively with a
paintbrush and words. But I also think there was a moment where life gave us a
chance to do the right thing. We’ve never sacrificed greatness for fairness.”
Robinson says The
Martin Agency has been working for the past three years—since the public ouster
of former Chief Creative Officer Joe Alexander over sexual harassment
allegations—to “make this agency a model of business and example of how
companies should operate.”
“It’s a proud
moment for me,” he says. “It makes sense for me to be the next logical choice,
and not just because I’m a Black man but because I’m homegrown and people in
the agency know me. We’ve been putting in the work and people are paying
attention now that we have.”
The Martin Agency
has achieved several notable feats in the past few years
including doubling the number of women it has on its executive
board; appointing the first person of color to the board; and even
closing the wage gap.
While cross-overs
between client officers and creatives are unusual, Robinson, who has been
doing stand-up comedy in his downtime for the past decade, says it makes
sense. “We’re in this to solve problems for clients with great creative.”
