Quiet Storm's Trevor Robinson Awarded Honorary Fellowship from UAL
Trevor Robinson OBE has been honoured with a fellowship by the University of the Arts London as one of twelve remarkable creatives receiving honorary degrees for pushing boundaries at the forefront of the creative industries across a wide range of disciplines.
Legendary ad man and activist Trevor Robinson OBE, founder and executive creative director of advertising agency Quiet Storm, is behind some of the most iconic British advertising, from the multi-award-winning 'You've Been Tango-ed' Orange Slap to the more recent Haribo 'Kids Voices' campaign.
Receiving his honorary UAL fellowship in front of an audience at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Trevor said, “To those of you in the audience who are about to or starting out on your career: find what you love and grab it; don’t fear being different, embrace it; go out and do it.”
Trevor is one of the most high-profile and highly regarded people in advertising, despite being told at the age of 11 by his school careers advisor that he’d have more chance of working on a building site. In addition to his contribution to advertising, Trevor is renowned for encouraging future talent from underrepresented backgrounds to enter the creative industry to safeguard the sector’s future and boost its commercial success.
Reflecting on the challenges he overcame as a young person to get into advertising, Trevor told the audience at UAL: “It was a long time ago, but these things taught me an important lesson: to appreciate and seize the opportunity when someone is trying to help you but also to be resilient and not expect the world to owe you something. Another thing I learned was the importance of doing something that makes you jump out of bed in the morning and then pursue it like a crazy person.”
Trevor has been recognised for his continued work championing and supporting young people from underrepresented backgrounds, which earned him an OBE for his services to charity and advertising. He was behind the much-lauded ‘Create Not Hate’ campaign to tackle gun and knife crime and engage disenfranchised youths from the community where he grew up in creative projects. In 2020, following the BLM protests, he launched the next iteration, Create Not Hate, a not-for-profit organisation, to bring young, underrepresented people from inner cities who would never otherwise have access to opportunities into the UK advertising and creative industries.
On awarding the fellowship, UAL posted on its website, “Trevor Robinson OBE is a renowned creative director and marketer, whose prolific work has helped define advertising in the UK over the past three decades. Growing up, he wasn’t aware of creative opportunities or his potential to make it in the industry - an experience that fuelled his not-for-profit work for social change later in his career.”
Trevor is a regular main stage speaker at Cannes Lions, where he has been president of the Titanium jury, president of the Craft jury, and festival ambassador for Craft. He has also been recognised in influencer lists, including being honoured by IPA among 30 people in the inaugural iList, Debretts 500, Campaign’s A List, Trailblazers, and The Drum Top 100 Adverati.
