Profiles in Black Creativity: Gwen Kelly and the Pullman Porters Campaign

For the past two years, in celebration of Black History Month, agency owner Derek Walker has highlighted some of the industry's most prominent and emerging Black talent. This year, Adweek is partnering with Walker on this inspiring and important project. For the first day of Black History Month, we're celebrating multicultural marketing evangelist Gwen Kelly. She served in executive roles at Walmart and spent several years at agencies like Burrell, Della Femina Travisano & Partners, TracyLocke and Wells Rich Greene. Today, we look at how Kelly approached a 2002 Black History Month campaign for American Family Mutual Insurance as the brand's multicultural advertising manager. "I could write a book about who Gwen is and what she has done," Walker said. "Gwen is a marketing and advertising powerhouse who has delivered on both the client and agency side. There is so much knowledge and experience that she has to offer. If you don’t know Gwen, do yourself a favor and get to know her." In an interview with Walker, Kelly goes into the 2002 Black History Month Pullman Porters Campaign for American Family Insurance (the full case study is embedded at the end of this article). The Pullman porters were men hired to work for the railroads on sleeping cars. The first all-Black union, they were widely credited with contributing to the development of the Black middle class in America. Derek Walker: Why are you so proud of this work?Gwen Kelly: Because of Mr. Dewitt Williams. He was the chairman of the deacon board of the Baptist church I grew up in. Mr. Williams was a Pullman porter. He was a very dignified and stately gentleman—always impeccably dressed. Cleaner than the board of health! And his wife, Mrs. Irene Williams, was always so fashionably dressed. And on the Sundays Mr. Williams was not at church services, I remember the adults saying with such pride, "Oh, Dewitt is on the train today.” Pullman porters were not only leaders in their communities; they were the builders of the Black middle class in their communities as well. American Family Insurance’s Pullman Porter Initiative was an opportunity to celebrate and serve an influential market segment. It supported the corporate brand in a very tangible and culturally relevant and meaningful way by extending it to a rapidly growing consumer segment, the African-American consumer market (ACM). The campaign also exhibited the greatness and influence of the ACM both from the business and cultural lens. Very few clear opportunities like this exist in our chosen field. And the recognition of over 20 awards for this project was indeed humbling as well. Would you change anything about this work? Quite honestly, no. The client and agency teams were quite intentional in bringing in and connecting the campaign's various elements. The vision was to look for new ways to expose and engage people in conversations that would lead to new conclusions rather than persuade people of previously foregone ones. For example, holding the screening of the Showtime film 10,000 Black Men Named George as a community event as a centerpiece of the campaign was vital. But it extended exponentially by also tying the movie into an opportunity for those who had family members involved with the union to be entered into a registry housed at the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. And the registry provided opportunities for families to share how the Black middle class was built. How did you get here with this idea? It was all done to enlist this Fortune 500 company to place perhaps a different spin on the celebration and recognition of Black History Month. Not only does it tells the story of Black Americans, but it served as a uniquely American story as well. Noted jurist and legal scholar Judge R. Eugene Pincham—who had worked his way through college and law school as a dining car waiter—saluted the project. He said, “It is important that America, particularly Black America, be aware of the struggles through which we have come. The National Historic Registry is a way of retaining these memories and making them a part of our heritage. You can’t talk about Black history without talking about the Pullman Porters.” Learn more about Gwen Kelly by following her on LinkedIn and Twitter.