HOLLYWOOD — After being “beaten up” by ruinous, fraudulent and overly straitjacketing ad-tech practices, a new consensus has emerged between ad agencies and other parts of the value chain, beginning a new era of creativity.
That’s according to the woman who runs the body representing advertising agencies in the US.
“We’re in a really good place right now,” says Nancy Hill, president of the 4As (the American Association of Advertising Agencies), in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“We came through a really tough time (in) the last two years – especially the agency community feeling beaten-up. Now the people have had multiple very honest discussions with their clients feel like they’re in a good place. You’re about to see the dawn of a new era of creativity.”
What was that beating and who doled it out? All of us, Hill says.
“Digital just got away from everybody. Those of who lived in the digital world just said, ‘Trust me, it’s gonna be fine’. I don’t think we did a good enough job of bringing the clients along with us.
“Now we have to course-correct and make sure they understand what we (now) understand.”
For Hill, it was one of the last opportunities to course-correct the industry before, in June, she leaves the organization she has helmed since 2008.
The 4As flagship Transformation conference in April falls during the one-hundredth anniversary of the organization, but Hill is looking to the future, not the past.
“You’re about to see the dawn of a new era of creativity,” she says.
This video is part of a series produced at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting. Beet.TV’s coverage of this event is sponsored by Index Exchange. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
