MIAMI – On the cusp of its 100th anniversary, leadership at the American Association of Advertising Agencies is trying to foster more collaboration among ad agencies, media owners and other suppliers. “We all need each other,” says Chairman Bill Koenigsberg.
The equally brief message from Koenigsberg, who in addition to his Four A’s role is President, CEO and Founder of media agency Horizon Media, is that advertising is a personal business.
“What it all comes down to, when I started my agency 26 years ago I started it on the philosophy that business is personal,” Koenigsberg says as the Four A’s holds its annual Transformation conference. “When you talk about culture, environment, retention, recruitment, gender quality, it’s a ‘business-is-personal’ business.”
Of the approximately 800 attendees at Transformation, some 65% represent agencies, 20% brand marketers and 15% various industry suppliers, according to Koenigsberg.
“What that tells you is that we’re living in the age of collaboration,” he says. “It’s the sum of the parts. Each one of them cannot operate independently. They all have to operate together.”
Next year, when the group marks its 100th year in existence, “We should have thousands of people here, when you talk about where the world is going and the messages that we are trying to convey. We can’t keep talking to ourselves.”
This video was recorded at the 4A’s Transformation conference in Miami. For additional interviews, please visit this page. Beet.TV’s coverage of the 4A’s was sponsored by The Trade Desk.
