Profile: Donald A. Coleman, founder and CEO of GlobalHue

Donald A. Coleman, founder and CEO of GlobalHue

Donald A. Coleman is the founder and CEO of GlobalHue, the largest black-owned multicultural advertising agency in the United States.

According to the company website, GlobalHue, began as a humble, one-man, African-American promotions shop that has materialized into the industry’s leading total market agency with Fortune 500 clients. GlobalHue works with blue chip brands to communicate with African-American, Asian and Hispanic consumers and customers.

Coleman founded the company in 1988 as Don Coleman Advertising – the main focus of the company at the time was advertising and marketing to the African American segment, which was largely underserved. In 2002, Don Coleman Advertising acquired Asian-American agency Innovasia Communications and Hispanic agency Montemayor y Asociados to become GlobalHue – a move that that broadened its consumer base to include the Hispanic and Asian American segments.

Under Coleman’s stewardship the company grew rapidly and by 2009, GlobalHue’s capitalized billings were over US$800 million and over 300 employees. In 2011, industry monitor, Advertising Age, in its report, ranked GlobalHue as the No. 1 African American agency and the No. 2 Hispanic agency for 2010.

Coleman, a former NFL linebacker, is an alumnus of the University of Michigan where he earned his B.A. and Hofstra University, where he earned his MBA.

Coleman is active in his community, In 2009, he launched the Coleman Entrepreneurial Scholarship to help promote entrepreneurship as a career to African American and Hispanic students; he is an active member of the Spelman College Board of Trustees and the Board of Visitors at The Howard University John H. Johnson School of Communications.

He has been honored for his contributions to industry and community – some of the awards and honors include: 2010 Best of Black Business Advertising Award; profiled in the New York Times as The Boss; 2010 – named one of 40 “Titans: The Most Powerful African Americans in Business–and How They Shaped Our World” in the 40th Anniversary Issue of Black Enterprise.

More information about Donald Coleman and GlobalHue can be obtained at ADWEEK.