Dreamer That Makes His Dreams Come True free essay sample

The dreamer who makes his dreams comes true Moss Kendrix was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1917. He attended public school like every other African American child his age. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. While he attended Morehouse College he was the editor the Morehouse newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. He was a devoted member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and co-founder of the Phi Delta Delta Journalism Society. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1939, and created the first National Negro Newspaper Week. He applied and then was accepted into Howard University’s Law School. He married Dorothy Johnson, and had two children with her. From 1941 to 1944 he served in the United States Army. During his time served in the army he worked in the Treasury Department in the War and Finance Office. It was then he got his first taste of working with Public Relations. He appeared on television shows and talked on radio talk shows working to promote the war. In 1944 he started his own public relations firm, The Moss Kendrix Organization; the company’s motto was â€Å"What the Public Thinks Counts. He started his business based on the conclusion that African Americans were a large part of the consumer market in the United States at that time. Knowing this he invested a large quantity of time and effort into the development of this highly unacknowledged market. The Coca-Cola Company, Carnation, the National Dental Association, the National Educational Association were some of his many clients. In addition to running his own Public Relations firm he was the host of a weekly radio program show, â€Å"Profiles of Our Times. † During the early 1900s African Americans made up a large part of consumer market. Nehi’s grape and orange flavored soda was popular. Coca-Cola was also another popular brand of drink, but it wasn’t as popular in the African American society as it should have. Kendrix noticed this gap, and put his knowledge and skills to the test. In the early 1950s he went to the Coca-Cola company office, and offered his proposal on how to better market Coca-Cola in African American Communities; Coca-Cola Company hired him that same year as a retainer. He became the first African American to acquire a major cooperate account. He wanted to use Jackie Robinson, a famous baseball player, and his Jackie Robinson Bat Boy and Girl Good Citizenship Corps, a contest â€Å"Who Are American’s Twelve Leading Negro Citizens†, and a Coca-Cola Scholarship Contest for High School Seniors to promote Coca-Cola products. He used advertising, public relations, and sales promotion to get the word out about what he was trying to do. He used the Negro press, newspapers, and magazines as the primary source for information about his proposal. He planned it so that programs of public relations would run during the various phases of the proposal. The sales of the Coca-Cola would be the basis of participation of the Good Citizenship Corps. The methods in which the scholarship, and the Jackie Robinson Bat Boy and Girl Good Citizenship Corps would go were under the direction of the Coca-Cola Company. Kendrix had envisioned that the whole proposal would be built around Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson Bat Boy and Girl Good Citizenship Corps qualified boys and girls to be apart of the corps under the conditions that they would submit a slogan. If they submitted the slogan they were rewarded with a certificate, and a good citizenship button. Many of the children would frame their certificates, and parents would become impressed with the generous effort that Coca-Cola put into the youth. They started this Coca-Cola campaign in the summer so that it might be more effective. The next plan that Moss Kendrix had was The Coca-Cola Leading Negro Citizens’ Contest. The contest lasted for six weeks. The twelve leading Negros would be picked by way of essays written by African American children ages fourteen to eighteen years of age. The twelve that were selected were commended in a full page that was carried out by the Coca- Cola Company. The last part of the proposal was â€Å"These Twelve† Scholarship Contest. This contest was open to all high school seniors. In order to enter the contest they have to write long papers. Four 41,000 scholarships were given on a regional basis. This contest permitted local bottle holders to be apart of this scholarship. Although this plan that he had put together was going to mainly target the young Negro youth, it was going to reach the other parts of the African American population. Kendrix had the opportunities to work with celebrities while he worked on this Coca-Cola proposal. He worked with Coca-Cola until the early 1970s. Kendrix could multi-task. While he was getting the Coca-Cola Proposal together he was creating The National Association of Market Developers. The National Association of Market Developers or (NAMD) was created in 1953 at Tennessee State University. This group was created in support of minorities in the Public Relations field. It was a vital tool used during the 1950s to help black marketing specialist deal with black consumer market. Today the group is still in existence, and it is known as The National Alliance of Developers. The NAMD is based on a five Point Plan: serve as a National African-American Consumer Resource, provide professional support to the community, support students through education and guidance programs, increase the National Alliance of Marketing Developers exposure through national public affairs, develop national liaison with other organizations. The National Alliance of Market Developers still exists to this day. There are chapters in Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, New Orleans, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Washington D. C; the newest chapter is in Florida.