Description
🏆 2023 BIBA® Non-Fiction: Business Professional Memoir Winner!
“Black on Madison Avenue” tells the shocking truth about one of the most un-diverse white-collar professions in America. These are the explosive stories that Madison Avenue doesn’t want you to read.
“Black on Madison Avenue” reveals the incredible experiences of a Black man who has spent 40+ years on Madison Avenue at some of the advertising industry’s most prestigious agencies and gives readers a rare glimpse of what it’s like to be one of the very, very few Black professionals in the advertising agency business.
Mark Robinson has spent the past 40 years in advertising and marketing at some of the industry’s most prestigious agencies, including LINTAS, Grey Advertising, The UniWorld Group and CommonHealth. For his considerable expertise in this field, Mark was chosen by filmmaker Spike Lee to co-found, launch and manage his new agency, Spike/DDB. As Managing Director, Mark built the agency from virtual start-up to a $35 million dollar phenomenon in one year. Mark has been featured in Fortune magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age.
Mr. Robinson is a member of the American Advertising Federation’s Multicultural Marketing Leadership Council, a national touring lecturer for the American Educational Foundation, and an ongoing mentor for MAIP (Minority Advertising Internship Program) for the American Association of Advertising Agencies. Mark was nominated for the 1994 Connecticut Human Rights Award for his community service and work in multicultural education. In 2009, he was chosen by the State of Connecticut to receive the Martin Luther King Leadership Award for his activities in diversity, community service and multicultural education.
In 1998, Mark left the ad business for a few years to start his own company, Heritage Apparel, an internet-based clothing company that celebrated African American history and heroes. In 2001, Mark Robinson was recognized as the Entrepreneur of the Year for the successful launch of his next company, S/R Communications Alliance; the first 100% minority-owned network of 12 multicultural advertising companies, with combined business of $225 million.
Mark, with his wife Laura, lives in Connecticut and has served as a diversity advisor for the CT Department of Education, and is a highly sought after strategist and advisor to various political campaigns, party leadership and community organizations. In 2000, Mark was appointed by the Governor to serve on the State’s Martin Luther King Commission. In 2009, he was chosen to receive the Martin Luther King Leadership Award for his activities in diversity, community service and multicultural education.
