{"id":20902,"date":"2017-06-07T10:49:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T14:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/?p=20902"},"modified":"2026-10-15T10:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T14:52:36","slug":"behind-the-icons-carol-h-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/behind-the-icons-carol-h-williams\/20902\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Icons: Carol H. Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In April 2017, the American Advertising Federation (AAF) inducted Carol H. Williams into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Her induction marks a major milestone in AAF\u2019s history, as Williams is the first African American woman creative<\/a> to be inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 1969, Williams was hired by then-Creative Director Rudolph Perz to work at one of the ad world\u2019s most prestigious agencies, Leo Burnett. She worked there for 11 years, working her way up the career ladder as a Copy Supervisor in 1972. She was then promoted to Associate Creative Director in 1974, then becoming a Creative Director in 1976 before another promotion to Vice President in 1977 and Senior Vice President in 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her time at Leo Burnett was filled with a body of work for brands like Secret \u2014 where she launched the \u201cStrong Enough for a Man, But Made for a Woman\u201d campaign\u201d \u2014 and the Walt Disney Company. She also worked closely with Perz on the Pillsbury account. While Perz has been credited with creating Poppin\u2019 Fresh<\/a>, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Williams holds the credit for coming up with Poppie Fresh, the Doughboy\u2019s friendly, female counterpart. We recently chatted with Carol about creating \u201cThe Little Girl with Big Ideas\u201d and why she was never allowed to be poked \u00e0 la<\/em> the Doughboy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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