Closing the Gap: Professionals of Color in Advertising

Some of the Black Creative Group, Inc.'s guidelines for appealing to black audiences in 1978 [2]

The 1970s was a time of prosperity for black owned agencies. By 1972, there were 25 in the United States including:

• Uniworld in New York City - 1969
• Proctor & Gardner in Chicago - 1970
• Burell McBain - 1971

Leaders in the field founded the Afro-American Association Agencies in 1973. Howard Sanders served as its president and some of its early members were Vince Cullers, Byron Lewis, Emmitt McBain, Barbara Proctor, and John Small.[1]

As general markets began using integrated advertisement and minorities in general market commercials, some felt as though it was not effective because they were still within white campaigns. As Douglass Alligood described it:

"The integration of television commercials is hardly encouraged to produce a marketing reaction in the minds of black Americans as much as it is to change the image of non-white Americans in the minds of the predominantly white mass audience."

Black agencies assisted companies in adapting their national advertising campaigns that catered to white audiences to resonate with black audiences. The Black Creative Group, Inc. offered a special set of guidelines for companies to follow in order to appeal to black audiences in 1978 as depicted above. 

Results from a 1972 study on black consumer attitudes toward selected media [2]

Other black agencies found it more viable to specialize in the black consumer market. Black media was an effective way to reach black consumers. A study conducted for Black Enterprise that interviewed 422 black and 341 white participants in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York City found that advertisements that appeared in a magazine with black editorial content had a more positive effect on black readers than the same advertising in a general market magazine.[2]

By the end of the decade, a number agencies did not survive. Poor managerial practices, heavy debt loads, and an inabillity to maintain general market clients hurt these agencies. Too many agencies competed for the same small amount of accounts. Black media also had difficulty attracting advertising dollars once a study came out suggesting that advertising in black media was more expensive than general media on a cost per thousand basis. John Johnson, an unofficial spokesperson on black media issues at the time, challenged this conclusion and spent the rest of the 70s trying to convince advertisers otherwise.[1]