Liebman was a fierce defender of the work and the creatives who made it.
Lisa Liebman, a tenacious agency account executive who convinced a wary Mars Inc. to buy edgy campaigns for Skittles, Starburst and Combos in the mid-2000s—work that would become famous and usher in a new era of absurdist comic advertising—died on June 15, her husband, Steve Liebman, confirmed to Ad Age.
The cause was cancer, which she had battled for the past two years. Liebman was 61.
After learning the ropes of account management at Jameson Advertising and FCB/Leber Katz Partners in the 1980s, Liebman spent the ’90s at D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, before moving to TBWA\Chiat\Day New York in 2001.
It was at Chiat, beginning in 2004, that she and her team made advertising history with Skittles’ “Blank the Rainbow,” a campaign aimed at teenagers that mixed the real and the surreal in amusing and often disturbing ways. The campaign, which is still running almost 20 years later, boosted sales, upended the candy category (which to that point had consisted mostly of saccharine ads aimed at younger kids) and was celebrated creatively in the industry and beyond.
Many of the creatives who developed “Blank the Rainbow” said flat-out that those ads, from “Sheepboys” to “Touch” to “Piñata Man,” never would have seen the light of day without Liebman’s tireless advocacy.
“Without her, none of it would have happened,” said Scott Vitrone, the art director who developed “Blank the Rainbow” with copywriter Ian Reichenthal. “She considered our group inside Chiat her family. She was highly protective of us and the work. She was a mentor to her account team and a guardian for the creatives.”
“Lisa was tough,” Reichenthal added. “She was still laughing and making jokes all throughout her cancer treatment. She explained that attitude in a text: ‘I decided not to die before I die.’”
“She never took no for answer, even when they said it in every meeting for six months,” Gerry Graf, who oversaw “Blank the Rainbow” as chief creative officer of Chiat New York, wrote in a remembrance on LinkedIn.
Liebman told Muse by Clio’s Tagline podcast last year that selling through the early Skittles work required an airtight strategy, something she pushed for on every campaign. “I made a couple of client enemies along the way, actually,” she said of the Mars team. “I learned that strategy is incredibly important. If a client buys into a strategy, that’s the blueprint. That’s the contract. And as long as you deliver against that strategy, you can do the most insane work that you’re able to do.”
Liebman also shepherded offbeat campaigns for fellow Mars Inc. brands Starburst and Combos, as Chiat New York’s work quickly became the gold standard for comedy industry-wide.
“She was just really smart and relentless,” Steve Liebman, her partner of 35 years, said. “She wouldn’t give up on an idea she strongly believed in, even if it wasn’t what everyone else was thinking. She endeared herself to everyone because she cared so much and put so much effort into it. Her work really was her passion.”
Liebman most recently was VP and managing director of Austin Williams, an agency on Long Island, which she joined in 2014. Her colleagues there recalled not just Liebman’s formidable business skills but her way with people.
“Known for her passion for perfection, sharp strategic mind and even sharper wit, Lisa was a driving force behind the growth of our agency ... and a force to be reckoned with,” Eva LaMere, the agency’s president, said in a statement. “She loved what she did unabashedly and completely. But she loved giving to others even more. She changed the face of our agency and our industry for the better.”
Lisa Liebman
Long after the Chiat crew went their separate ways, Liebman stayed in touch, rooting for them wherever their careers took them. Vitrone, Reichenthal and a few other ex-Chiat people visited Liebman in April on Long Island. “I think everyone, including Lisa, knew it might be the last time we were going to see each other, and we still laughed and had the best time together,” said Reichenthal. “We all love her and miss her.”
“If she loved you, that was a bond for life. And she loved the crew she had back at Chiat,” said Graf. “People come and go in our business. But if you’re lucky, you meet the special ones like Lisa who stay with you forever.”
In addition to her husband, Liebman is survived by their son Sam.
