Phyllis Robinson

Phyllis Robinson
Born	October 22, 1921 New York City
Died	December 31, 2010 New York City
Nationality	American
Occupation	Advertising and Public Relations
Known for	Agency founder DDB

Phyllis Kenner Robinson (née Kenner, October 22, 1921 – December 31, 2010) was an advertising executive – a copywriter who helped create numerous notable ad campaigns. 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.

Born in New York City, in 1942 Robinson earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in from Barnard College; she wanted to be a writer. 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," 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. At DDB, she supervised a team that would produce a number of notable people in advertising, including Mary Wells Lawrence and Paula Green. Wells described Robinson's place at DDB when Wells arrived there in 1957 "By the time I arrived the gods were firmly ensconced, the pantheon was established, the rituals, the sacred writings were already beloved. The Dei Majores were the originals, Bill, Ned, Mac, Phyllis and Bob Gage; they spoke a secret language. There were talented others, the spirits and the elves, but the gods were the gods, everyone in the industry knew who was who". Years later Wells put it more simply, "I would buy a used car from Phyllis Robinson."

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. On the occasion of her death Keith Reinhard, Chairman-Emeritus of DDB Worldwide wrote "In presentations to students, I still use her campaigns for Levy's rye bread and Ohrbach's as timeless examples of how to make brands famous by writing in a conversational tone...... [The Ohrbach's ad] is great on its own merits, but the more important reason I singled it out was that, when Volkswagen decided to introduce the Beetle to the U.S. market, they did not conduct an agency search. Instead, they simply said, "We want the agency that does Ohrbach's" – and thus, thanks to Phyllis, the creative revolution was born."

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