The Creative Force Behind Iconic Ads
Anna Morris ā62 receives recognition for her influence in advertising
When Anna Morris went back to work in the 1960s, she didnāt have the skills the employment agency was looking for. āThey threw my typing test in the garbage,ā she says. But she aced the written test. After all, āIām a product of ½ńČÕ³Ō¹Ļ.ā
She started in the finance department of an ad agency and went from running adding machines to running creative, copywriting and producing iconic television commercials for McDonaldās, Procter & Gamble, and more. Her bookkeeping memos caught the eye of the creative director at Burrell Communications, who brought her onto a project for Carnation evaporated milk and tomato paste.
Suddenly her background as a homemaker was an asset. āI went home, I looked at my family, I wrote scripts for those products, and Tom Burrell loved them,ā Morris says. āHe said, I can get a bookkeeper anytime; I think youāre a copywriter.ā
Within two years she was a vice president.
In September, Morris was inducted into the One Clubās Creative Hall of Fame for her lifetime of work, including iconic ads such as Coca Colaās āStreet Songā and āDouble Dutchā as well as āCalvin Got a Jobā for McDonaldās. She even coined the term āMickey Dās.ā
Not only did Morris make commercials for Black people, āI also tried very hard to stick my foot in the door and push it open for Black professionals,ā she says, putting Black creatives behind the camera as well as in front.
One of her favorite spots was āJoey,ā for McDonaldās, which shows a working mother picking up her son from daycare. āIt spoke to me,ā she says, āraising my sons while I worked. The whole thing just resonated with me.ā
When she taught copywriting at Columbia College in Chicago, she was surprised to learn that her students still remembered her commercials. āThey also,ā she adds, āintroduced me to Dave Chappelleās wicked, wicked takedown of my āCalvinā with his WacArnoldās satire.ā
Being a mom and homemaker gave her an edge in the industry, she says. āWhen I was teaching at Columbia, I told those kids you have to go out and get some life experience ā¦ Get on the bus, listen to people, eavesdrop, observe, and do whatever you can to live. Without that, you canāt relate to the consumers.ā
Although Morris left college after her sophomore year, she still wears a ½ńČÕ³Ō¹Ļ baseball cap every day, she says, and āIām there for every reunion with the class of ā62 because those are my sisters.ā
Classmate Jane Furth joined her at the ceremony, while Barbara Morrison, Gail Fischer Hubbard, and Louise Weingarten Wiener cheered from afar.
āIām pleased to be getting roses while I can still smell them above ground,ā she said on a call from her Chicago home, where she was polishing her speech the week before the awards.
āNever did I dream that I would be included in a roster with these giants. Itās overwhelming for me. Itās breathtaking, itās wow.ā
Published on: 10/23/2024