Today we’d like to introduce you to Cheryl Berman.
Cheryl, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I began working at Leo Burnett, one of the world’s largest ad agencies, at age 21, after being fired from my uncle’s newspaper. He said if you want to make things up, don’t do it on my paper. You should be in advertising.
So, I started as a junior copywriter at Leo and left three decades later as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, which had actually been Leo’s old job. I was not only the first woman to ever hold that title, but the first woman ever on their Board of Directors. So, I’m all about supporting and uplifting women in the ad industry today, as unfortunately women just aren’t getting the jobs or the credit I believe they deserve,
Anyways, I like to say, I went from the Big time to the Beach House, which is where I started my own little creative company called unbundled, from my house on the lake in Wilmette Illinois. I had no problem finding clients, in fact they found me. After 30 years I guess I had made a few connections. We have been fortunate enough to work with clients like the Joffrey Ballet, American Greetings, Sky Zone, and Arbonne. I was also hired by the Wall Street Journal to review two seasons of Mad Men. And I’ve certainly got some wild and crazy stories about that little gig.
The best part about life after Leo, is that I’m back to being a copywriter again and I think I’m actually a pretty good one. But I’ll let you be the judge of that.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has not always been smooth, but definitely exciting and challenging. Being a female executive in the advertising world does have its challenges. You are not always invited to the functions or meetings you should be part of and you often have to become quite outspoken or creative to make sure you are included in everything you should be. And once you’ve got a seat at the table, it’s not always easy to have a voice. And once you have a voice, it’s not always listened to by everyone as it should be.
Women, in general, are often misunderstood when it comes to life and marketing. This is why I developed a series of speeches and seminars called “Miss Understood. She’s Not Buying Your Ads.” which recently revamped into Miss Understood. What to know when Marketing to Women.
So, I have learned to persist. The Wall Street Journal did a full page ad on “The Determined Miss Berman.” It was quite an honor and does a great job of telling my story and explaining how important it is to keep fighting for what you believe in. Determination and persistance are critical when you are trying to work your way to the top. You have to be able to pick yourself up again after each and every fall. As Winston Churchill once said, “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the unbundled story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a Branding and Big Idea company. We help brands figure out what makes them authentic, relevant, and differentiated. It might be a Brand Refresh to uncover the Big Idea that fuels the brand, like Curiously Strong Mints for Altoids or it could be working with a start up and giving them a name and a face. This is what we did for the Dream Exchange. Look out for that brand. They are a small business stock exchange coming soon that will rock the world as we know it.
unbundled offers Branding By the Beach. A multi-sensory branding experience like no other. This method of branding was developed with the help of Disney and Leo Burnett We have used this method to help build brands like American Greetings, The Joffrey Ballet, Sky Zone, Arbonne, and Pharmacyclics.
Once a brand has its identity, we are experts in creating state of the art video content. Our recent work with Rise Interactive is a great example of this and has already won 5 industry awards.
Every brand we have worked within the past 10 years has experienced growth and for me, that describes the amazing success of unbundled perfectly.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe in luck. I believe in relentless passion, the magic of creativity and the power of persistence.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1170 Michigan Avenue Wilmette, Illinois 60091
- Website: www.unbundledcreative.com
- Phone: 312 933 0344
- Email: cherylberman1@gmail.com
- Instagram: adamvonfeldt@gmail.com
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