Spotlights
Spotlight on Creativity
June 2008
June's spotlight on creativity is David Brown, Principal and President of BrownPartners - a full service minority-owned ad agency located in Center City, Philadelphia. David founded BrownPartners in 2002 and has been in the advertising and communications industry for more than 20 years. In late May 2008, BrownPartners was awarded $50,000 from Innovation Philadelphia's Creative Economy Investment Fund.
David serves in leadership positions with several organizations including the Board of Directors of the Avenue of the Arts, the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) and Chairman of the Marketing Committee for the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition. He is one of the few communications executives who has served as Chairman of the Board of both the Philadelphia Advertising Club and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
David was the first African American, in more than 25 years, to be inducted to the Public Relations Hall of Fame by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association in 2007. In addition, he was the 2007 Recipient of the first-ever AdColor Innovator Award provided by a coalition of advertising trade associations honoring groundbreaking work in advertising by professionals of color.
Your name:
David W. Brown
Firm/company:
BrownPartners
Title:
President
Current Location:
Philadelphia
Hometown:
Philadelphia
Favorite Philadelphia neighborhood:
West Philly
Best advice you've ever been given:
"Have your eyes fixed on the horizon while keeping your feet planted on solid ground."
Your favorite thing about living in the Philadelphia Region:
The character and energy of the city, its accessibility to anywhere in the world, the quality of life.
Your favorite thing about working in the Philadelphia Region:
The camaraderie of the ad industry, the collaborative spirit to come together to use our collective and individual talents to constantly make the region better.
Why start a business in Philadelphia?
The tradition of advertising here (the modern day advertising agency was born here), the attractive quality of life that continues to draw great creative talent, the inspiring leadership of the Nutter Administration and the spirit of entrepreneurship that was embodied in such visionaries as Ben Franklin and continues to shape our environment today.
What are the challenges of owning a business in the Philadelphia Region?
Access to capital - particularly for minority-owned businesses - along with inequities that continue to keep minority-owned enterprises relegated to set-aside subcontractor opportunities as opposed to larger, more sustainable contracts with mainstream growth potential.
BrownPartners is one of the fastest growing full service advertising agencies in the Northeast with some very most recognizable clients such as Comcast, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Peco. As a three-time Pepperpot award winner (the Philadelphia chapters of the Public Relations Society of America's highest honor for public relations campaigns) the company is the only agency in the Northeast to be honored with a Mosaic Award by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), an AdColor Innovator Award jointly presented by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the AAF and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
To learn more about David and his work in the region, visit: http://www.brownpartnersmm.com.