A former NFL linebacker and lifelong entrepreneur, Donald A. Coleman is a visionary and pioneer in the advertising industry. An advocate of multicultural marketing, Coleman’s full service marketing communications firm, GlobalHue, has evolved into the total market agency for the New America. GlobalHue leverages its multicultural legacy, diverse talent and deep expertise in activating influence to deliver ideas that move. The agency has the unique ability to not only reach audiences but also touch individuals.
After graduating from the University of Michigan and serving a four-year stint in the NFL, Coleman began his advertising and communications career at Campbell-Ewald Advertising in Warren, Michigan. After Campbell-Ewald, he worked for a Chicago firm that targeted the African-American consumer market. In 1988, Coleman fulfilled his dream and started his own agency, Don Coleman Advertising, which, in 2002, he united with Hispanic agency Montemayor y Asociados and Asian agency Innovasia Communications to form GlobalHue.
With offices in Detroit (Southfield) and New York, GlobalHue is one of the largest minority-owned, full-service marketing communications agencies in the nation. The agency handles total market commutations for Jeep and OneMain Financial, and for decades has been acknowledged for its multicultural expertise by its blue-chip clients, including Verizon Wireless, Walmart, Chrysler Group LLC and the U.S. Navy. In 2009, GlobalHue was recognized as the “Multicultural Advertising Agency of the Decade” by Adweek.
Named one of the “12 Top Innovators in Marketing and Advertising” by Black Enterprise, and profiled in the New York Times as The Boss, a feature reserved for select leaders in the business world, Coleman is an innovator in the advertising industry and well known for his entrepreneurial spirit. His latest enterprise, GH Ventures, is an independent venture company that seeks opportunities in media, marketing and advertising to create alternative business for GlobalHue clients as well as for Fortune 500 companies.
Coleman is also a member of the board of several organizations, most recently being appointed to the Spelman College Board of Trustees. He is also a philanthropist, contributing more than $5 million over the last five years to various organizations. Further, to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice amongst college students, Coleman launched The Coleman Entrepreneurial Scholarship (CES) in 2009. CES awards $50K in scholarships each year to help future generations of entrepreneurs fulfill their dreams.