Burrell Communications Group L.L.C. is an American advertising agency whose assignments are among those tracked by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. Founded by chairman emeritus Thomas (Tom) J. Burrell, and headquartered in

Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, ''Burrell Communications'' is one of the largest multi-cultural marketing firms in the world. Some of the company's work is part of a collection in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

History

Burrell Communications was founded in 1971, by Tom Burrell and then partner, Emmett McBain, and was originally named Burrell McBain. When McBain left in 1974, Burrell renamed the agency ''Burrell Communications Group''. The company had been established to forge an authentic and respectful relationship with the African-American consumer, and to tap into how the black aesthetic could also appeal to the general market consumer. It was at this time that Burrell coined the phrase, "Black people are not dark-skinned white people." Recognizing that there existed inherent cultural differences, and the fact that these differences drove patterns of consumption, became a driving force and inspiration for future ad campaigns at Burrell. They had established a leading shop for niche African American -focused communications, beginning with the Black

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. ...

for

Philip Morris Phil(l)ip or Phil Morris may refer to: Companies *Altria, a conglomerate company previously known as Philip Morris Companies Inc., named after the tobacconist **Philip Morris USA, a tobacco company wholly owned by Altria Group **Philip Morris Inter ...

. Their list of accounts quickly expanded to include marquee brands

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atla ...

. A ''Coke'' commercial entitled "Street Song" won Burrell its first Clio Award. By 1979, Burrell topped $10 million in billing per annum, making it one of the most successful multi-cultural advertising shops in the United States. Other accounts they added included Martell Cognac and Stroh's accounts (1981-1983). Burrell's "Double Dutch" Commercial for

gained national attention and a Gold Award at the U.S. Television Commercials Festival. By 1996 agency billing climbed to $20 million. To better serve ''Coca Cola'' Burrell opened an office in

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. More work came from

Procter and Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

, Crest Toothpaste, Polaroid and

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

Stovetop Dressing. The agency was awarded the Grand Effie by the

American Marketing Association The American Marketing Association (AMA) is a professional association for marketing professionals with 30,000 members as of 2012. It has 76 professional chapters and 250 collegiate chapters across the United States. The AMA was formed in from th ...

for its work on "Who Wants," a spot created for the Partnership for a Drug Free America. Burrell garners new clients including

Nynex NYNEX Corporation was an American telephone company that served five states of New England (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) as well as most of the state of New York from January 1, 1984 to August 14, 1997. History ...

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco ...

's A1 Steak Sauce,

Maxwell House Coffee Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the ...

and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...

. Agency billing tops a record-breaking $128 million. Burrell acquires DFA Communications, a general market advertising and direct marketing agency based in New York, adding direct marketing expertise as well as a New York presence.

49% sold to fund expansion

In 1999 they sold a 49% minority stake to French media giant

Publicis Groupe Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris. After 1945, the little-known Paris ...

in order to fund its expansion. Burrell Communications was awarded projects by

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, Hewlett-Packard and

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company ori ...

21st century

In 2002 Burrell was named

Black Enterprise ''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl ...

's Advertising Agency of the Year Tom Burrell retired in 2004. The agency launched

Toyota Camry The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact car, compact in size (narrow-body ...

's in 2007 with their "If Looks Could Kill," the first digital campaign of its kind to target African American women. In 2009 they were granted the American Airlines account, and a Toyota ad was on the Super Bowl.

2010s

2010--Burrell launches Threshold Nation, a subsidiary dedicated to marketing toward the multi-ethnic urban male. 2011—Burrell Communications is named

's Advertising Agency of the Year and adds

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

to its list of clients 2013—Burrell launches Rising Tide, a Tide-sponsored aspirational social network for millennials looking for professional access. The program features hip-hop media mogul,

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...

, sharing his wisdom with the young, professional audience. 2014—Burrell scores a major win the 2013 Toyota Avalon "Only The Name Remains" campaign, starring Academy-Award nominee

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

. The campaign won a Gold National ADDY Award, an Official

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

Honoree, and was listed as the FWA Site of the Day.

Clients and Awards

Some among their list of major clients have been using their services for over 30 years, among which are:

, SuperValu,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenge ...

, Lilly and Disney's Dreamers Academy. They've won major industry awards, including the ''

Clio In Greek mythology, Clio ( , ; el, Κλειώ), also spelled Kleio, is the muse of history, or in a few mythological accounts, the muse of lyre playing. Etymology Clio's name is etymologically derived from the Greek root κλέω/κλεί� ...

'' and a ''Grand Effie.''

References