WHO WE ARE

ROBB AUSTIN
Robb Austin is a former newspaper reporter for The McKeesport Daily News in suburban Pittsburgh where he covered the state and local politics of a number of nearby communities for five years.

Robb was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives at the age of 27 by defeating an entrenched incumbent by an over 2-1 margin in the Democratic primary election.  He went on to win the November general election by almost a 4-1 margin, one of the largest pluralities in the state.

Although his re-election was assured, Robb relinquished his state House seat to run in the Democratic primary for state Senate against the Senate Majority Leader.  He lost in a race closely watched throughout the state, but he also made campaign history as the first state Senate candidate in Pennsylvania to use television advertising in his campaign.

During the 1980s Robb served as Chief of Staff for two members of Congress in Washington D.C. and was appointed Director of Government Affairs for the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture by the Reagan Administration.   He served as campaign manager for Republican Patrick L. Swindall in his U.S. Congressional campaign which was universally regarded as the “upset win of the year” for Republicans against five-term incumbent U.S. Representative Elliott Levitas (D-Ga.).

In 1986 Robb started Austin Communications, a political and media affairs consulting firm which he heads today.  The firm’s clients include some of the largest corporations in the world; dozens of U.S. Congressional and Senatorial campaigns; and a variety of politically related trade associations and organizations.  He is also principal partner in the Philadelphia advertising firm Curson & Austin.  Elliott Curson is best known as President Reagan's media consultant during the 1980 Republican presidential primary campaign.

Robb attended the University of Miami (Fla.) and graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in Mass Communications.  He attended both UM and GWU on full basketball scholarships.  Robb gained national recognition at UM for breaking the freshman school scoring record of former UM Hall of Fame basketball star Rick Barry with a scoring average of 31.5 points per game.
   
Robb’s success started in Ohio at the age of 12 when he delivered newspapers for the Columbus Citizen Journal.  He won an award for never missing delivery to a customer over a two-year period.


ELLIOT CURSON
Elliott Curson approaches politics and advertising with a different perspective.

He started in commercial advertising as a creative art director and has won every major award for creativity.  Elliott has been featured in countless Philadelphia magazines and newspaper profiles for his creativity in the advertisement business.

His involvement in politics started in 1969, and he has been nationally recognized for his creative and direct approach ever since.  Elliott has written and created over 400 political commercials and has won 72% of his campaigns.

When Ronald Reagan was seeking the Republican nomination in 1980, Elliott produced the television and radio commercials that ran in every primary state from New Hampshire to Wisconsin.  Of the nine states where these spots aired, Reagan won eight.

Television commentator Jeff Greenfield on ABC Nightline said, “Curson’s commercials for Reagan were so issue-oriented that it helped create the mood for the Republicans to capture the Senate.”  The Washington Post added, “Curson’s commercials for Reagan were better than any of the others.”

Elliott has recently turned his creative attention to national corporate and trade association advertising and has teamed up with Austin Communications on a number of these advertising projects.