Tom Burrell

{{Short description|Founder of one of the first African American ad agencies}} {{use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{use American English|date=June 2021}} '''Thomas J. "Tom" Burrell'''<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Advertising Age |title=Thomas J. Burrell. (1939-). |date=March 29, 1999}}</ref> (born March 18, 1939)<ref name=TomBurrell.Cyclo>{{cite web |website=Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/social-sciences-and-law/business-leaders/tom-burrell |title=Burrell, Thomas J. 1939– |date=May 17, 2018}}</ref> founder and chairman emeritus of Burrell Communications, became one of the first African Americans in the field of advertising.<ref name=TomBurrell.CrainChicago>{{cite news |newspaper=Crain's Chicago Business |url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20180406/CRED0701/180409919/tom-burrell-pioneering-ad-executive-selling-south-loop-condo |title=Tom Burrell, pioneering ad executive, selling South Loop condo |date=April 6, 2018}}</ref>

==Early years== Burrell was born in Chicago, where his father owned a tavern and his mother worked for a beauty parlor.<ref name=TomBurrell.AA128mmFawcett/> He switched high schools to avoid being near "the wrong crowd" and it was in the second one that a teacher encouraged him to look into the field of advertising.<ref name=TomBurrell.Cyclo/><ref name=TomBurrell.AA128mmFawcett>{{cite news |newspaper=Advertising Age |title=Perseverance pays dividend at $128 million Burrell shop |author=Adrienne W. Fawcett |date=June 3, 1996 |pages=C2, C4, C6}}</ref> He then went to Roosevelt University, majoring in English and with a minor in advertising.

==Career== Burrell was "the first black person to work in a Chicago advertising agency."<ref name=TomBurrell.WTTW>{{cite web |website=WTTW |url=https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2018/06/28/tom-burrell |title=How Tom Burrell Convinced Corporations That 'Black People Are Not Dark-Skinned White People' |author=Daniel Hautzinger |date=June 28, 2018}}</ref> After ten years of advancing, he and Emmett McBain opened their own agency, Burrell McBain Advertising.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Advertising Age |title=Burrell at 25 |date=June 3, 1996 |page=C1}}</ref> Part of Burrell's pitch was that "black people are not dark-skinned white people," referring to differences in music preferences and other cultural differences. Burrell bought out his partner in 1974 and renamed the agency ''Burrell Communications Group''.<ref name=TomBurrell.Cyclo/> McDonald's and Coca-Cola were early clients.<ref name=TomBurrell.WTTW/>

In 1999 he sold 49% of his firm to fund expansion,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Advertising Age |url=https://adage.com/article/news/publicis-takes-stake-burrell/25333 |title=Publicis takes stake in Burrell |quote=Chairman-CEO Thomas Burrell will own 43% of the agency, and executives will own the remaining 8%. |date=June 2, 1999}}</ref> and subsequently stepped aside, becoming ''chairman emeritus'' of the agency; Burrell was later inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://advertisinghall.org/members/member_bio.php?memid=832 |title=Members, Advertising Hall of Fame}}</ref> He also authored two books, ''Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority''<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-1-4019-2592-5 |year=2010 |title=Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority |author=Tom Burrell|publisher=National Geographic Books }}</ref> and ''Brainwashed: Erasing the Myth of Black Inferiority''.<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-1-4019-2591-8 |title=Brainwashed: Erasing the Myth of Black Inferiority |author=Tom Burrell|date=September 2009 |publisher=Hay House, Incorporated }}</ref><ref name=TomBurrell.CrainChicago/>

One post-retirement recognition of his professional accomplishments came in 2017 from ''The One Club''.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=BizJournals (Chicago) |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2017/09/20/chicago-ad-man-tom-burrell-makes-history.html |title=Chicago ad man Tom Burrell makes history with a top honor |author=Lewis Lazare |date=September 20, 2017}}</ref>

==Personal== He and his wife Madeleine Moore Burrell live in Miami. Burrell has donated to and benefitted from Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind since being diagnosed with macular degeneration.<ref name=TomBurrell.Cyclo/>

==References== {{reflist|31em}}

==External links== * [https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/thomas-j-burrell-40 Video, oral history, Thomas J. Burrell]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrell, Tom}} Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:American company founders Category:African-American company founders Category:African-American business executives Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century African-American people