KUPERMAN/jb/mike1st/mark2nd

Robert Kuperman

President/Chief Executive Officer, North America

TBWA Chiat/Day Inc.

Age: 56

Robert Kuperman can trace back his interest in art from his days as a boy growing up in Brooklyn.

On report card day, Kuperman often brought home bad marks mostly straight-Cs. As a way to divert his parents from those mediocre grades, Kuperman would also show them his drawings.

“They loved my drawings, and it kind of cushioned the grades. I told them I wanted to be a commercial artist,” he said. “I figured that’s what I can do to get attention and compliments and I started doing art even more.”

Decades later, it’s clear that focusing on art has paid off for Kuperman, who just last week was promoted to president and chief executive officer of TBWA Chiat/Day’s North America operations. He previously was president and CEO of the firm’s Venice office.

During his tenure, the Venice office has produced such work as Jack-in-the-Box’s “Jack” campaign, Nissan’s “Enjoy the Ride” spots and the Energizer Bunny.

Kuperman began his career at 14, designing doggie sweaters for his uncle’s manufacturing company. Years later, he attended New York’s Pratt Institute, graduating in 1963 with a bachelor of fine arts degree.

Kuperman then went to work at Cunningham & Walsh and later moved to Doyle Dane Bernbach (now called DDB Needham). By the age of 26, Kuperman had been promoted to vice president and was running DDB’s U.S. ad campaign for Volkswagen.

He left DDB in 1971 and worked as creative director for several other agencies developing classic campaigns for Alka Seltzer and other clients. Kuperman later came back to DDB in 1982 to run the agency’s Western operations.

He joined Chiat/Day’s Venice office in 1987 as creative director and was appointed president of the agency two years later.

Through the years, Kuperman also has garnered industry honors: the Volkswagen campaign won the Clio award, his Meow Mix ads are in the Clio Hall of Fame, and his agency’s campaigns for Energizer and Nissan were cited by Adweek magazine as Campaign of the Year.

Joe Bel Bruno