{{short description|American advertising executive and copywriter}} {{about||the American politician|Phyllis Robinson (politician)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = Phyllis Robinson | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Phyllis Kenner | birth_date = October 22, 1921 | birth_place = New York City | death_date = {{death date and age|2010|12|31|1921|10|22}} | death_place = New York City | other_names = | known_for = Agency founder DDB | education = Barnard College | occupation = Advertising and public relations }}
'''Phyllis Kenner Robinson''' (née '''Kenner''', October 22, 1921 – December 31, 2010) was an advertising executive and copywriter who helped create numerous notable ad campaigns.<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news|title=Phyllis K. Robinson, a Top Copywriter, Dies at 89|first=Stuart|last=Elliott|date=January 21, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/media/22robinson.html|accessdate=January 24, 2011}}</ref> She was a foundation employee of the US agency Doyle Dane Bernbach from 1949 and was instrumental in that agency's success and growth over the next twenty years.
==Career== Born in New York City, in 1942 Robinson earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in from Barnard College;<ref name=NYTObit/> she wanted to be a writer.<ref name=fox/> She worked for the US government as a statistician during World War II.
After the war, she moved to Boston, and embarked on a career in advertising. After starting out at Bresnick & Solomont, she joined Grey Advertising in 1947 writing fashion promotion, where she first worked for William Bernbach. When he and Ned Doyle left Grey in 1949 to start their eponymous agency with Mac Dane their "little gold mine of people",<ref name=lawrence>{{cite book|last=Lawrence|first=Mary Wells|title=A Big Life in Advertising|year=2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-4586-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/biglifeinadverti00mary/page/4 4]|url=https://archive.org/details/biglifeinadverti00mary|url-access=registration}}</ref> included Robinson and the art director Bob Gage with whom she was teamed and would enjoy much creative success.
Robinson was Doyle Dane Bernbach's first chief copywriter.<ref name=lawrence/><ref>{{cite news|title=Remembering Phyllis Robinson: The Original Mad Woman|date=January 7, 2011|magazine=New York Magazine|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/01/phyllis_robinson_was_the_origi.html|accessdate=January 24, 2011}}</ref> At DDB, she supervised a team that would produce a number of notable people in advertising, including Mary Wells Lawrence and Paula Green.<ref name=fox>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Stephen R.|title=The mirror makers: a history of American advertising and its creators|year=1997|publisher=U of Illinois P|isbn=978-0-252-06659-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlVB6ARdT7kC&pg=PA295}}</ref>
Robinson worked on memorable campaigns for numerous clients, including Ohrbach's, Henry S. Levy and Sons – "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's Real Jewish Rye", El Al Airlines, and Polaroid with a long running campaign featuring actors James Garner and Mariette Hartley.<ref name=fox/><ref>http://www.ddb.com/ddblogs/creativity/thank-you-phyllis-robinson.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123191210/http://www.ddb.com/ddblogs/creativity/thank-you-phyllis-robinson.html |date=January 23, 2011 }} Reinhard: Thank you Phyllis Robinson</ref>
Later, she also worked in theater, co-writing the lyrics for ''Cry for Us All''. She also wrote the books, lyrics, and music for a 1995 musical based on Bernard Malamud's short story ''Angel Levine''.<ref>{{cite news|date=October 30, 2000|title=Phyllis Robinson|newspaper=Adweek|url=http://www.adweek.com/aw/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=522332|accessdate=January 24, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=In Performance: Theater|first=Lawrence|last=Van Gelder|date=May 17, 1995|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/17/theater/in-performance-theater-059495.html|accessdate=January 24, 2011}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1944, she married Richard G. Robinson, and they had a daughter. Robinson quit full-time work at DDB in 1962 to raise her daughter, but continued to consult to the agency working three days a week through to 1968.<ref name=warlick>{{cite news|title=Phyllis Robinson, First DDB Copy Chief, Dies at 89. Creator of Memorable Work for Polaroid, Clairol Was Role Model for Women in Biz|first=Mary|last=Warlick|date=January 17, 2011|newspaper=Advertising Age|url=http://adage.com/article?article_id=148256|accessdate=January 24, 2011}}</ref> Richard died in 2005.<ref name=NYTObit/>
Robinson died in Manhattan in 2010, aged 89.<ref name=NYTObit/>
==Recognition== Robinson was inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame in 1968.<ref name=warlick/> For a time, she served as chairperson for the Creative Hall of Fame. In 1999, ''Advertising Age'' magazine named her one of the 100 most influential figures in the history of advertising.<ref name=NYTObit/>
==Legacy== She was featured in the 2009 documentary film ''Art & Copy''.
On International Women's Day in 2017, DDB Worldwide changed its name temporarily to DDB&R to honor Robinson.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.adweek.com/agencies/ddb-changes-its-name-for-the-day-in-honor-of-its-first-female-copywriter-and-international-womens-day/|title=DDB Changes Its Name for the Day to DDB&R in Honor of Its First Female Copywriter|date=2017-03-08|work=AdWeek|access-date=2017-12-24|language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Phyllis}} Category:1921 births Category:2010 deaths Category:American advertising executives Category:Barnard College alumni Category:American copywriters Category:American women copywriters Category:American lyricists