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Philip Durbrow

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Name
  
Philip Durbrow


Education
  
University of California, Berkeley

The Value of Organizational Identity


Philip Durbrow is Chairman and CEO of Marshall Strategy, an international corporate identity and brand strategy consultancy based in San Francisco, CA. Over his career, Durbrow has personally directed over two hundred corporate identity programs for entities such as: GE, Caterpillar, Bank of America, Walt Disney, Sprint, Westin Hotels, Alcatel, Barclay’s Bank, Sony, Jardine Matheson, World Wildlife Fund and the Nobel Prize Committee.[1]

Contents

Durbrow was formerly Vice Chairman of Landor Associates, the world's largest identity firm, where he founded and managed the worldwide corporate identity group. He then became Vice Chairman of Frankfurt Balkind, the leading communication consultancy to the motion picture and television industry[2]. While at Frankfurt Balkind he was often asked to comment on the new philosophy of advertising. Durbrow said, "People are realizing that the best communication isn't being done by ad agencies these days, it's being done by the movie companies. Entertain them and they will come.”[3] He co-founded Marshall Strategy with partner Ken Pasternak after selling Frankfurt Balkind to Interpublic Group in 2002. Durbrow has written widely about the value of branding, identity and naming to organizations of all kinds. [4]

Previous Careers

Prior to working in corporate identity, Durbrow had a wide range of careers. Growing up in Pebble Beach, Phil was an accomplished horseman, and while he was good enough to make the 1956 Olympic team, he was considered ineligible because he was too young (sixteen). He was, however, discovered by a Hollywood agent, and hired as a stunt double for Troy Donahue in one of the many western movies being filmed during that time. He went on to become one of the busiest stuntmen in the business, riding horses and performing stunts in western movies and series from “Gunsmoke” to “The Magnificent Seven”.

He left the movie business to attend UC Berkeley, where he studied Environmental Design. While an officer in the US Army, Philip in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics[5]. His four-man shell won the bronze medal with a last minute substitute for Durbrow due to illness.

After the Olympics and the Army, Durbrow attended the University of Nebraska. Upon graduation, he served as special assistant to the President of ConAgra, a Fortune 500 agribusiness based in Omaha, Nebraska. His assignments took him around the world to work on large agribusiness projects in Australia, Suriname, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. He left ConAgra to attend the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, after which he began his career in branding at Landor Associates.

Durbrow has served on The President’s Design Council and has been a featured speaker at the World Affairs Council, The European CEO Roundtable, The American Marketing Association, The Bank Marketing Association and The American Society of Security Analysts.

References

Philip Durbrow Wikipedia