Stacie Calabrese, Manager, 4A’s Research, outlines how agencies use AI to enhance output and make innovative campaigns.

The industry is seeing more clients evolving Project-by-Project (PxP) arrangements with agencies. PxP relationships between clients and agencies create both opportunities and challenges for both marketers and marketing services firms. Members of the 4A’s community have been endeavoring to figure out best practices for dealing with the shift by some clients from annual retainer relationships with their agencies to PxP relationships.

SoDA and Forrester feature research digital trends to watch, growth in digital marketing budgets, agency landscape trends, and client-agency relations.

360i created this go-to manual for understanding the complex voice ecosystem and shares what they learned exploring and executing voice.

Read agency executives’ thoughts on new business practices from pitches to new business staffing structures in this RSW/US report.

The Lighthouse Company shares insights from its annual survey of more than 600 C-Suite executives from around the globe.

The 2018 Employee Compensation final report, showing salaries as of May 2018, has just been published. The study includes salary data from agencies of all sizes, reflecting the responses of 333 member agency offices providing data on over 30,000 salaries for 233 job titles in 19 job categories.

Marsha Appel, SVP, 4A’s Research Services, explores identity marketing and the implications for ad agencies.

CreativeBrief explores the state of agency working culture today.

The following presentations took place at the Ad Age 2018 Small Agency Conference, July 17th and 18th, in Marina Del Rey, Calif.  

The following creative consultants offer services in the implementation of international advertising, such as adaptation and co-development of creative work for foreign markets.

These media buyers offer ad placement services in foreign markets.

One way to gain international capabilities is to consider joining a network of independent agencies.

Marsha Appel, SVP Research Services, highlights points from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report agencies need to know to succeed.

Creativebrief surveyed agency CEOs and CMOs to gauge their thoughts on the traditional pitch. The results are surprising!

Think with Google highlights five ways agencies and marketers can use surveys to inform their next business decisions.

Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB, shares what she’s doing to fill the diversity void in creative agencies in this Think with Google article. 

Available to non-members for a limited time. The 4As’ social media committee has written a comprehensive white paper to help agencies organize a social media practice for sustainability and success for their clients and business.

Adam R. Jacobson and HispanicAd provide a concise snapshot of the state of Hispanic advertising agencies, focusing on what’s exciting, challenging, and motivating Hispanic ad agency leaders today.

Campaign Asia-Pacific and Kantar share results of their investigation into gender equality and sexual harassment in the media and marketing industry across the Asia-Pacific region.

Hubspot lists ten questions agencies should ask before investing in a project management tool and gives 18 project management systems to consider.

The Culture Marketing Council provides demographic profiles and media habits of Hispanic consumers, as well as a list of top advertising, marketing, and media companies specializes in the Hispanic market.

This comprehensive report from Extreme Reach, based on research commissioned with Advertiser Perceptions™, illuminates just how cumbersome and inefficient it is for ad ops teams to find and prepare creative assets for video campaigns.

In this annual report, Med Ad News profiles advertising agencies with a significant or growing portion of their business in the U.S. healthcare field.

Med Ad News announces the winners of the 2018 Manny Awards, celebrating the best in the healthcare communications industry.

Agencies around the world share their growth challenges in this report from Hubspot.

The Wow Company has released the 2018 agency benchmark report resulting from its annual survey of independent agency owners in the UK. Topics include profits, confidence levels, how agencies price, AI, Brexit impact, top challenges, and more.

Prospect and PublicAffairsAsia share the findings from their survey of practitioners in the communications and corporate affairs industry in Asia Pacific.

Medialeader and Communicate, in association with Ad Age, have released the winners of the top creative agencies, media agencies, and campaigns in the the Middle East. The rankings are based on awards won at Cannes Lions, Dubai Lynx, Effie Awards and Festival of Media. Also, check out the separate ranking for the People’s Choice Awards.

Rakuten Marketing reveals five global marketing opportunities and fears for 2018.

Strategy tracks and tallies the awards won by agencies, advertisers and creatives in Canada, and identifies the winners in this report. Rankings are provided for agencies, brands, creative directors, art directors, copywriters, and planners.

Discover why the 1980s saw a transformation of the agency landscape in a dizzying frenzy of mergers.

EACA has published a guide to help European agencies learn how General Data Protection Regulation will affect targeted marketing campaigns and how personal data is to be handled. The publication provides a list of procedures that agencies can follow to become compliant and to minimize risks.

This directory from Campaign lists the major Middle Eastern digital agencies and ad tech companies with brief profiles and contact details for each.

Agency Spotter’s annual report highlights agency search trends.

Zenith predicts eight big trends for 2018, including blockchain, brand purpose, and live-stream retail.

In this article from The Drum, learn about the gender balance in Chinese advertising and media agencies, how women have progressed in both their professional and personal lives, and what led to advancement of women in the marketing and advertising industries.

What should advertisers and their agencies expect from each other in 2018? Bruno Gralpois of Agency Mania Solutions explores major trends.      

RSW/US’ annual New Year Outlook Survey Report explores biggest challenges facing ad agencies from the perspectives of both marketers and ad agencies.

Learn how local ad agencies are responding to clients’ desires to shift to cheaper, more targeted forms of digital media in this survey from leading local-ad research firm Borrell Associates Inc.

Statistics on agency employment patterns, number of ad agencies in the U.S. , top cities by number of agencies and employees, and more.

Mediamath predicts how programmatic marketing will evolve over the next ten years.

This presentation was delivered to the 4A’s Large Agency & Media Finance Committees on October 26, 2017 by Rick Brook, SVP, Global Client Operations at WPP. 

New guidance has been announced on EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for those agencies engaged, or planning to engage, in serving the EU market. This new regulation, which goes into effect on May 25, 2018, will alter the rules and restrictions related to collecting and processing personal data for agencies, both on behalf of clients, and for your own purposes.

This article from Bizcommunity shows the growth of the ad industry in Kenya. It includes Internet advertising statistics, media consumption, need for agency talent, ad strategies, and details of a very successful Tinder campaign.

Learn about foreign ad agency associations and see a list of their members.

SoDA conducted a survey to explore business performance measurement within agencies, production companies and design studios. Topics such as employee turnover rates, budget tracking, promoting and maintaining healthy levels of team and client satisfaction, benchmarking data, and much more are explored. View the summary findings and benchmarking data.

The 83rd Analysis of Agency Costs Survey Report, showing operating cost and income figures of member agencies for 2016 agency data, is now available. Download the order form here.

Read this report from Advertiser Perceptions to learn what advertising decision makers think about data, measurement, and research tools.

PwC’s Strategy& reports on the need for agency holding companies to rethink their organizational structures. The paper details the pros and cons of four next-generation operating models.

Bob Greenberg and a panel of R/GA senior executives provide the key components of the disrupter’s playbook in this video from Cannes.

Here’s a list of language services to help you translate your ads and adapt them to a foreign market.

Tim Williams of Ignition Consulting Group provides sound advice on ways to create new revenue streams for your agency.

Become the most interesting person at your next agency happy hour by reading this short history of agency names from Marsha Appel, SVP Research Services.

On July 27th, 4A’s held an agency-only webinar to help survey participants and 4A’s members understand the important information contained in the 2017 Labor Billing Rate Survey Report (LBRSR).

Learn about the big decade of agency IPOs in this piece from Marsha Appel, SVP Research Services.

Statista created this Giant Chart exclusively for the 4A’s to illustrate changes in the ad agency industry, including agency revenue, growth in employment, and share of ad expenditure by medium.

Check out this list of creative monitoring services compiled by Research Services.

Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group provides perspective on the outlook for agency holding companies. His analysis cites risks for agency holding companies including slowing business growth among clients, squeezing fees and competition from consultants.

Learn the history behind the RFP in this piece written by Marsha Appel, SVP Research Services.

4A’s Research is launching a new series focusing on defining moments in agency history. This introductory piece highlights the factors that gave rise to the media agencies of today.

In this recorded webinar Randy Cohen, President & COO of Advertiser Perceptions discusses findings from the recently released report “The State of Agency Business Development.”

Advertiser Perceptions partnered with the 4A’s to query marketers on the current state of the advertising agency business. 77% of respondents believe the role of lead agency is important. Some highlights from the survey include: Agency search methods Agency selection criteria and decision makers Client relationship preferences Marketer procurement practices Emerging agency trends

A survey from the ISBA in the UK revealed that advertisers are increasingly shifting from external agencies to in-house and on-site agencies.

IPA unveiled its list of people who’ve had a major influence in the UK ad industry over the last 100 years. Check out the game changers here.

Search Consultant (and former New Business Committee member) Melissa Lea of R3 Worldwide shares her perspectives on agency search dynamics — including trends related to client objectives and requirements, client goals for agency searches, and search consultant observations that she wished she knew as an agency new business executive.

4A’s Research Services offers members the following informational directory listing of Ad Measuring Services.

4A’s Research Services provides a list of national and international clipping services.

This presentation and audio recording​​ from Dave Beals​ discusses Agency Search dynamics, and was part of the inaugural meeting of the 4A’s Central Region’s New Business Committee.

This confidential study compares the overall compensation of the highest-paid individuals in 94 4A’s member agencies with annual gross income up to $75 million.

How has narrowing the agency’s focus helped with staff acquisition and retention?

A federal judge in Texas has issued a temporary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing new overtime pay rules that have been scheduled for December 1, 2016 implementation.

Coalition for Better Ads Will Use Research, Advocacy to Develop and Implement New Standards

On July 19th, the 4A’s hosted the “Overtime Rules Change Webinar” which provided information on overtime rules that will become effective on December 1, 2016.

The 4A’s is asking some of the ad industry’s most interesting thinkers to share their views on the future of advertising, change and what they really want to be when they grow up. Here DDB New York’s Chris Brown offers his thoughts: 1) What’s the biggest challenge or opportunity facing the ad industry right now? […]

Wage inequality and workers’ rights are themes you will hear often on the Presidential campaign trail this year. Even President Obama has made regulatory enforcement of labor policy a focus of his final term. The most vivid example is a new regulation about compensation that soon will go into force, without any public debate, Congressional hearings or […]

In this op-ed Mike Proulx, EVP, Director of Digital Strategy & Tech Innovation at Hill Holliday, shares his perspective that brands fighting the daily share battle have a better weapon.

The young and the creative have been the engine driving advertising agencies for decades. But those who once joined this business with dreams of making the next standout television commercial are no longer drawn to the industry in the same way. Some view advertising as stodgy—who wants to make a 30-second TV commercial when everyone they know is […]

Ad Age‘s Ken Wheaton recently penned an article for the magazine on how the discussion on gender equity in the ad industry mustn’t eclipse its need for racial diversity. He wrote: “the overwhelming majority of talk about diversity over the last few months has been about gender rather than race. Perhaps it’s easier to talk […]

The 4A’s is committed to showcasing creative work done by its member agencies through its Inside the Campaign feature. Here Critical Mass, based in Calgary, Canada and with offices in 12 cities, helped put game faces on Nissan’s Diehard Fans. How Critical Mass created an augmented-reality face-paint app to help Nissan celebrate its unprecedented sponsorship […]

In this June 8, 2016 presentation to the 4A’s Western New Business Committee, Casey Burnett (The Burnett Collective) described his new consultancy, which is focusing on several interesting new approaches that will be of interest to the new business community.

Connelly Partners announces Joel Idelson has been named Chief Marketing Officer.

WFA and the EACA provide guidelines on how to organize, conduct, and conclude a pitch process leading to a new client-agency relationship.

Laughlin Constable has announced it has established an internal trading desk to buy online advertising space directly from ad exchanges.

New York – May 24, 2016 — Deutsch New York’s Chief Strategy Officer, Andrew Dawson, announced the appointment of Rachel Mercer as VP, Digital Strategy Director. She will be charged with helping to grow the Agency’s digital, social and innovation strategy practice – working on clients including Sherwin-Williams and PNC Bank. Reporting directly to Dawson, […]

We want to alert Members to the U.S. Department of Labor release of modified employee overtime pay rules. The new rules which take effect on December 1, 2016 will have a material impact on many U.S. businesses including marketing service companies.

The U.S. Department of Labor has dedicated major resources toward “updating” and “clarifying” the overtime pay regulations that have been in place since 2004. As with the earlier regulations, the new overtime pay rules, which are effective December 1, 2016, are complex, but they apply to virtually all businesses and will necessarily change significant aspects of agency operations.

MEC today announces the launch of MEC Wavemaker, a global specialist content offer that uses consumer insights to plan, create and evolve brand content strategies. The division will be led by Tim Flattery whose been appointed Managing Partner, Senior Practice Lead reporting to Shenan Reed, President, Digital.

Four Chicago-based companies, who are leveraging technology to provide enhanced experiences and planning services for travelers and the travel industry, will work with senior marketers in the sixth Chicago Marketing Sparks program led by advertising agency MARC USA in partnership with 1871.

4A’s Management Practitioners Forum (Monday, March 21, 2016) – Agency Organization Structures & Servicing Models by Andrew Graff, CEO, Allen & Gerritsen.

4A’s Management Practitioners Forum (Monday, March 21, 2016) – The Do’s & Don’ts of MSAs, Security and IP Ownership by Candice Kersh, Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.

4A’s Management Practitioners Forum (Monday, March 21, 2016) – Agency Case Story – Meet 22Squared by Richard Ward, President/CEO, 22squared.

Industry subject matter experts from the 4A’s community developed the this whitepaper to provide agency management with a framework for evolving discussion on master service agreements (MSA) data security considerations and predominant industry practice.

An ANA/4A’s task force has developed ANA/4A’s Agency Reviews for Project Work Guidance Considerations, a white paper that provides clients and agencies with principles to help optimize the review process for project assignments.

The 4A’s, the leading trade association representing the advertising agency business, has released the “Transparency Guiding Principles of Conduct,” which outline common goals and modern industry practices surrounding the issue of media transparency.

Developed by the 4A’s finance committees, this paper helps facilitate and inform agency-client discussions related to the composition of effective and efficient marketing investment.

A series of regularly updated surveys on employee benefits in agencies.

Horizon Media, the largest and fastest growing privately-held media services agency in the world, announced today the launch of a second stand-alone media agency network, Canvas Worldwide.

The 4A’s today revealed the names of approximately 20 speakers who will participate in its Strategy Festival 2015, during which winners of the 19th edition of the Jay Chiat Awards will be announced.

2014 was another record year for the 4A’s Workers’ Compensation Program, with covered payroll growing to $9.3 billion and insured employees increasing to 139,000.

The 4A’s has established a Digital Operations and Technology Committee to address issues related to the digital supply chain for its member agencies.

The 4A’s Board of Directors has adopted a new 4A’s position paper, developed by the 4A’s Finance Committees, “Best Practice Guidance | Agency Compensation: Market-Based Labor Rates.”

Archer Malmo, a leading brand communications agency in the Mid-South, today announced the acquisition of Austin-based Tocquigny, an independent, digital marketing agency founded by Yvonne Tocquigny in 1980.

Starcom Mediavest Group (SMG) announced newly added video and native distribution channels to Content@Scale, the agency network’s proprietary technology platform that helps marketers scale quality content in real time.

Mullen Lowe Group is pledging to donate the monetary replacement value of all the Cannes Lions statues it wins at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2015 to hunger-relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Nepal.

This survey provides important information about agency digital operations including revenue sources, relationship structures, monetization of I.P., and digital services agreements.

Global media communications network Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) today announced an industry-first addressable TV product-SMG MAPS TV- that activates and measures addressable TV audiences based on brand location visits.

Horizon Media, announced today it has established a mood-based roadmap for planning audio investments.

The prevalence of project assignments and the trend toward project pitches is on the rise. The 4A’s survey report on Reviews for Project Assignments contains valuable information on project dynamics. Please contact Sal Conte at sconte@aaaa.org for a copy of the survey.

Alma has been named 2015 Multicultural Agency of the Year as part of Advertising Age’s Agency A-List honors for the nation’s best advertising and marketing firms.

Members of the 4A’s legal, finance and commercial practices communities have developed agency-client master service agreement (MSA) guidance related to Allocation of Risk, Indemnification & Limitations on Liability.

Members of the 4A’s Finance committees believe that it is in the best interest of both the agency and client communities to provide information on agency overhead and agency profit.

This white paper, developed by members of the 4A’s data security task force, is intended to elevate awareness of data security challenges.

The 4A’s Client Public Relations Committee has released results from a recent survey designed to help agency leaders determine whether and how best to integrate public relations into their service offerings.

A 4A’s team discussed the topic of Leveraging Expertise & Scale (aka Conflicts) at an ANA Agency Relations “Members Only Conference” recently. The outline of their conversation is included here for 4A’s members to review.

Recent agency experiences with patent assertion matters have led the 4A’s to a few patent guidance recommendations for agencies.

Recent agency experiences with patent assertion matters have led the 4A’s to offer the following downloadable document outlining specific recommendations.

This presentation on the effective compensation and agency performance measurements in digital media was originally presented by Bryan Wiener, Chairman & CEO, 360i Chairman, 4As Digital Board.

Adobe Systems Incorporated and SapientNitro, part of Sapient, today announced an expansion of their global partnership, including integration of the Sapient EngagedNow platform with Adobe Marketing Cloud.

4A’s finance committee task group advocates compensation negotiation best practice suggestions for agency leaders A cross-industry task group, comprised of senior agency executives, has developed guidance and is advocating best practices that will help marketing services agencies interact more productively with client procurement groups and industry compensation consultants. The task group’s recommendations, which carry the […]

The 4A’s and McCann Worldgroup partner on “Truth About Advertising” U.S. research study, and the 4A’s kicks-off a contest to find the best creative idea to market the industry to a broader audience.

To assist 4A’s members in addressing the many aspects involved in assessing and structuring project assignments, an “Agency Best Practices: Project-Based Assignments” guidance and discussion Wiki workspace has been created.

For an outline of topics relating to agency best practices on various project-based assignments, please refer to the the following overview.

Gain Your Competitive Edge at the 4A’s Competitive Edge Series on Wednesday, October 3, 2012. The Competitive Edge Series features CEO-driven thought-leadership presentations designed to enlighten and inspire agency peers and client counterparts.

Technologists from the ad/marketing industry gathered for the first day of the 4A’s second annual CreateTech Conference, during which they were given a glimpse of “the possible” in consumer engagement.

“How to Build a Training Program at Your Agency”, the newest booklet in the 4A’s Management Series, is now available.

Cheil Worldwide announced the acquisition of Durham, North Carolina-based ad agency, McKinney, effective immediately. McKinney will play a central role in the reinvention of Cheil’s network in the Americas and beyond.

Deutsch LA recently teamed with the 4As on a study that examines the brand health of the ad industry and why people stay or leave. The results of the survey were released at Cannes today in a segment entitled “Ending the Agency Talent Rotisserie.”

Digital agency 360i today announced the launch of Startup Outlook, a new program whose mission is to surface the best emerging technologies and startups for brands and to provide marketers with a filter for evaluating them.

GroupM today announced that Mike Tunnicliffe, a media agency executive with more than 20 years of international experience, has been named the company’s Chief Growth Officer, a new position.

GroupM Next will focus on providing insights, in context, on the developments at both our core partners and emerging players in online, mobile, social and addressable.

The 4A’s is challenging the industry it represents to come up with a big creative idea that promotes the advertising industry to a broader audience.

This discusses the background on data security issues, the difference between data security and disaster recovery, and offers illustrative samples of data security policies obtained from 4A’s members.

Candice Kersh from Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz presents this paper discussing the new basics for agencies to consider when revisiting agency-client agreements

A battle-tested panel of agency pros talks about negotiating compensation and the importance of having a negotiating strategy, internal alignment and an experienced “deal team.” The panelists also share proven tips for reaching mutually beneficial compensation arrangements.

Dana Perry, BBDO, and David Weiss, Interpublic, discuss profit and ad worth in this 2014 4A’s presentation.

In this presentation paper by Darren Norkett, discusses “getting paid what we are worth” and touches on the unfortunate conversations we as an industry currently find ourselves having on the topic of Talent & Labor Based Compensation.

The 4A’s offers the following document to assist agencies in identifying and working successfully through compensation challenges and opportunities.

For a sample alternative compensation model, please refer to the following simple template in which you can drop in your agencies own compensation information.

Current SOW practices are diverse, and can be problematic as a result. This paper explores the challenges and some possible solutions to help make SOWs more streamlined and successful.

A panel of experts discusses the do’s and don’ts of performance compensation. They share the views on what performance compensation arrangements work, discuss lessons learned and the importance of client motives and culture.

Tom Finneran, EVP, 4A’s urges agencies to develop compensation principles, communicate the principles broadly and then adhere to the principles.

Ogilvy’s Worldwide CEO Miles Young urges the industry to get back to basics by starting with the client’s business goals; taking a team-based approach to compensation; challenging inappropriate client and consultant mandates; and believing in your value proposition and leveraging your precious talent.

A cross-industry panel discusses the importance of value-added metrics and cautions against the inappropriate use of metrics that focus primarily on cost rather than on the benefits that clients/brands derive from agency work.

TBWA’s President and CEO Tom Carroll provides a call to action and urges the industry to become more confident and capable pricers.

Rick Brook, SVP, Global Client Operations, WPP identifies myths about efficiency metrics–notably the invalid use of overhead as an efficiency metric. Rick suggests a hierarchy of metrics that are appropriate and should be used in compensation discussions. >>>Download presentation: Overhead and the Truth About Efficiency Metrics

Susan Gianinno, Chairman & CEO of Publicis suggests an innovative three-tier compensation approach.

Creative icon Lee Clow (Chairman and CCO, TBWA Worldwide) shares his thoughts on agency compensation and the value that agencies provide by building brands.

Tom Finneran, 4A’s Executive Vice President, discusses the industry’s compensation challenges and reviews the “Agency Compensation: 4A’s Agency Compensation Transformation Doctrine–Strategic Pillars” position paper guidance which serves as a foundation for much of the summit program’s content.

Industry icons share their thoughts on “How to Get Paid What You Are Worth–Now”

GroupM today announced that Dominic Proctor, the longtime CEO of Mindshare Worldwide, has been named President of GroupM, a new position.

On a cold and windy December day, Schafer Condon Carter’s 60 employees took to the streets to carol and cajole passersby, complete with a Santa and Elves, to raise money.

Go Crowdless aggregates Foursquare “check-in” data at 20 of New York’s most popular holiday attractions, to help travellers predict when crowds are likely to be smallest-and the busiest hours to avoid.

The IPG Media Lab is the world’s first immersion and exploration center dedicated to bringing the most promising technologies from Silicon Valley & the Innovation Economy together with leading global brands to create solutions for marketing problems.

Lunchbox is a shopper engagement solutions agency that develops innovative sales and marketing platforms for retailers that connect brands to millions of hard-to-reach customers.

Under the new agreement partnering Geomentum with AOL’s Patch, Geomentum will align with Patch to deliver scaled digital advertising solutions to its clients through the creation of locally versioned, hyperlocal advertising campaigns on Patch sites.

Minneapolis agency Campbell Mithun will host a live-streamed online conversation about myth and reality in today’s media marketplace.

GroupM has developed and adopted a pioneering new digital media buying policy designed to prevent its clients’ ads from appearing on websites that distribute illegally obtained content.

The Interpublic Group of Companies has officially announced the creation of Pipeline PS, a high-end production agency that addresses the needs of clients and marketing communications agencies.

Draftfcb’s acquisition of Blue Barracuda in the U.K. will fortify Draftfcb’s offering in a key strategic hub worldwide and drive even faster growth.

Wunderman is giving two teams of young future marketing students the chance of a lifetime—a trip to the prestigious Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Havas Drive, the innovation unit of Havas Worldwide Health, today announced the launch of patient-centric services geared toward persons with disabilities and those undergoing rehabilitative therapies.

Instead of having a single point of leadership, the European, the Middle Eastern and African Mindshare regions has been split into three distinct clusters, each of which will be managed separately and will report to Dominic Proctor.

The 4A’s Issues an “Agency Search To-Do List” That Addresses Agency-Marketer Relationship Fundamentals Agency business leaders and 4A’s business development committee members have reported that the level of marketing preparation and agency search/new business activity is on the rise. To help plan for and take advantage of accelerating momentum, the 4A’s recommends that marketing executives […]

The Draftfcb Institute of Decision Making global team aims to apply emerging fields such as behavioral economics and neuroscience to marketing communications.

The “Pricing Continuum” ranges from classic/true cost-plus arrangements at one end of the spectrum to pure value added/results based methodologies at the other end of the spectrum.

G2 Worldwide, a top-five global activation marketing agency, today announced the opening of its first Canadian office, which will be located in Montreal.

A new Middle Eastern alliance, called BPG Maxus, will offer media services and solutions including strategic planning, implementation and buying, analytics, and digital communications throughout the Middle East and North Africa regions.

According to the co-authors of the 13 Commandments of Recovery Marketing, the opportunity to put creative thinking to work, build value and drive business is there for everyone. They encourage all marketers to keep Draftfcb’s 13 Commandments in mind as they go for it.

4A’s/ANA Agency/Advertiser Value Survey In the late spring of 2007, the 4A’s and the Association of National Advertisers conducted parallel surveys designed to assess agency and client attitudes and activities in four areas: How agencies add value to the client’s business How advertisers add value to the agency/client relationship The degree of interest in value-based […]

This webinar—outlining 4A’s tips, tools and tactics—was first presented by P&G in June 2009 and is an overview of the P&G BAL model.

MindShare announced a global reengineering of its business structure that streamlines the company’s operations by integrating traditional and digital services into a full-service marketing agency powered by best-in-class media services.

On May 29, 2008 Lorraine Rojek and three RCG clients talked about the importance of clear agency values and culture as well as the leading causes of agency changes. “The Marketers View—Leapfrog Mine Fields and Exceed Client Expectations” featured Alltel Communications VP Marketing Erin Taylor; Royal Caribbean SVP Marketing Alice Norsworthy and White Castle VP Marketing […]

The 4A’s was pleased to host the next in its “Tips, Tools & Tactics” New Business Webinar Series on January 31, 2008, featuring leading agency search consultant Catherine Bension, President and CEO, Select Resources International. Ms. Bension shared her extensive experience with helping clients assess digital communication and emerging media agency resource needs, and highlighted best-in-class […]

In November, 2007, the 4A’s hosted another Webinar in its “Tools, Tips, and Tactics” series: “Working With Search Consultants, Featuring Mercer Island Group’s Steve Boehler.”

This position paper addresses trends in client/agency conflict policies and reflects consideration of these issues by the 4A’s New Business Committee.

This position paper addresses the issue of whether to include agency contributions to retirement plans and new business costs when calculating agency overhead. The 4A’s position is that these necessary costs should be included in overhead when calculating agency fees even though some advertisers and agency search consultants disagree.