4A's: You Are Officially 'On Notice'

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By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

Who: The American Association of Advertising Agencies.

Offense: Straying away from its customer base; not providing adequate professional development to its members.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies is officially on notice.

Why? Because it has become like the PRSA, AMA, IMA, IABC and others: a cesspool of the red tape, hierarchy, boring mumbo-jumbo that real advertising agency folks vowed to avoid.

There is no fun in advertising anymore. Associations like the 4A's make sure of it. To think that it once created great rules, like demanding agency search firms to require free signups to its databases (true story). But is there more to the issue?

It lost its customer base because the customers (AdPeople) no longer saw the value of joining it. AdPeople no longer see a reason to add their voices to the 4A's and create a message — a brand — for the industry. So then the 4A's became stagnant and stuck with the ideals and outdated activities of those people who continued to stick with it.

The blame, it seems, should be on both sides. Still, the 4A's knows that charging its overpriced fees for events and workshops will weed out a certain crowd. But then, what crowd are they trying to build, if it is a crowd at all?

Ad folks have lost faith in professional organizations that can effectively tell their story. If there are any organizations that are poised to fix this trend, its the 4A's.

Let's hope it happens.

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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