Account Management in 2021: Leaders Sum up the Challenges of the Last Year and Why They Remain Hopeful about their Role and their Industry

Just over a year ago, the 4A’s were kind enough to publish an article I’d written that featured some of the country’s top account people from some of the country’s best agencies talking about their role as we headed into what most already knew was going to be the oddest freaking year of their careers. […]

4A’s Project Management Operations: Annual Scope of Work Process |

This is a joint meeting of the 4A’s Project Management and Regional Finance Communities held on October 6, 2020. The session was moderated by Jeff Thaler, a consultant to a number of organizations on Agency and Client-side Service Delivery, Project Management, and Operations. Jeff most recently served as the head of Program Management and Operations […]

4As and ANA 2020 Best Practice Guidelines for Agency Search Consultants Paper

Given the important role agency search consultants play in helping clients and agencies find the right partner, the 4A’s is pleased to have partnered with the ANA on 2020 Best Practice Guidelines for Agency Search Consultants. These guidelines are intended to align the interests of marketers and agencies around agency searches and make the process […]

“Activating New Pricing Strategies Starting Tomorrow” |

On Tuesday, July 14th from 3 pm – 4:30 pm the 4A’s hosted a virtual finance committee meeting with Guest Speaker Tim Williams from Ignition Consulting Group.  Previously, Tim was a speaker at the 2019 MPF events where he presented progressive pricing approaches for agencies. The 4A’s is happy to bring to you part 2 of that […]

Employee Social Media Policy Examples & Relevant Materials |

As more and more of the US workforce is working from home/remotely, the 4A’s thought it would be helpful to consider what pitching virtually may entail and reached out to the Agency Search Consultant community for any guidance they might have.

COVID Production Protocols

As cities and businesses begin to reopen, many agencies are starting to kick off live productions which bring with it a host of new considerations to ensure the safety of employees, clients, talent and production crews.  The 4A’s has compiled production protocol templates and guidance to assist in creating safe production environments.   Don’t see […]

R3 New Business League Report – July 2019

Updated monthly, R3’s New Business League reports highlight the Creative and Media Agency new business activity on an ongoing basis. Here are the PDFs from April 2019 available for all users to view. Please note, an expanded New Business activity summary is available in Excel for 4A’s Members only. New Business League reports are R3 […]

Project-by-Project Do’s & Don’ts | Agency Best Practice Guidance |

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.

4A’s Releases Agency Hourly Labor Billing Rate Report

This report reveals that 2016 labor billing rates in the advertising industry are generally higher than those in 2014. Findings of this report include industry-wide guidance on market based labor rates.

4A’s MSA Guidance: Client Audit Guidance

4A’s Client Audit Guidance recommends that agencies and advertisers collaborative to design effective efficient controls and verification procedures related to significant marketing expenditures. This document is an updated version of the Client Audit Guidance issued in October 2014.

Globality Webinar with Porter Gale (Q4 Western New Business Committee) |

Globality’s Porter Gale participated in the West Region New Business Committee meeting on November 17, at Eleven in San Francisco, to share observations on the agency search process and provide committee members with information related to Globality’s web-based agency search platform (www.globality.com/).

Webinar: Q4 New Business Committee – Webinar with Agency Spotter Co-Founder Brian Regienczuk |

In this webinar, Agency Spotter CEO and Co-Founder Brian Regienczuk shares findings and key learning from Agency Spotter’s Agency Search Trends Report. The presentation was originally delivered at the Q4 meeting of the 4A’s New Business Committee.