4A's

4As Hosts: UNSCRIPTED: DAY OF PLAY – HUMAN & MACHINE TOGETHER Free one-day creative competition for agency creatives fueled and hosted by: 4As, New York Festivals, Machine Cinema and CYLNDR. Push the envelope with GenAI video production. No prep. No polish. Just fresh ideas coming to life in real time. Come explore, create and compete.

New Research Agent delivers cited, verifiable answers in seconds, with a direct path to 4As experts when members need to go deeper NEW YORK, NY, August 25, 2026 — The 4As today announced the launch of 4As Intelligence, a proprietary AI-powered platform giving member agencies instant, self-serve access to credible insights, research and expertise built over more than a century.

Stay informed on the shifting regulatory landscape surrounding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal sector. This session provides a critical update on the latest Executive Orders, significant legal challenges and recent changes to federal contracting and grant requirements. Attendees will gain actionable insights into current anti-DEI enforcement actions and learn strategies to navigate compliance requirements effectively in this evolving environment.

Theme: Presentation Mechanics & Narrative Impact A great idea that isn’t presented well is ultimately a missed opportunity. In the agency world, your growth depends entirely on your ability to share your thinking clearly—whether you are speaking up in an internal brainstorm, pitching a fresh concept to your team, or standing in front of a client. This Workhack pulls back the curtain on the art of presentation skills, offering a foundational blueprint to ensure your ideas always land. ...

The closer a household is to where an outcome can happen, the more likely it is to convert, a principle that holds true across categories, channels and purchase cycles. Drawing on the Proximity and Performance paper, co-authored with the 4As, this session unpacks proximity as a planning principle, backed by real campaign examples from across the TV advertising landscape. Learn how proximity is helping connect advertising to real-world outcomes, and how it can sharpen your next media investment.

YouTube has become the “new king of all media,” surpassing traditional giants like Disney, Netflix, and Comcast in both total US television viewing time and ad revenue. Successful independent and holding company media agencies understand that YouTube is now one of the most critical platforms to get right for their clients – but what are they missing? Because of the rapid change on the platform, many agencies are not employing some of the best strategies for driving great outcomes for brands.

If you want to understand where advertising is headed, don’t just read another article or sit through another panel about AI. Look at what’s already happening inside your agency and brand teams today. XR recently partnered with MX8 Labs to survey more than 400 marketers across brands, full-service agencies, production companies, media agencies and creative boutiques for our inaugural State of Ad Ops report. The findings paint a clear picture.

Marketing’s Leading Trade Organizations to Bring the Industry Together for Its First Leadership Summit in October The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the 4As, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will create a cross-industry body to lead on AI governance and adoption. This was the most significant commitment to come out of a meeting in Cannes, France, where leaders from all three organizations sat down with a delegation of CMOs from top brands and other industry leaders.

The federal landscape is shifting rapidly and agencies are increasingly grappling with a new, complex reality. This session provides a vital status update on the current federal environment. From agencies that are actively spending versus pulling back to the practical realities of today’s pitch process, we’ll cut through the noise to examine critical legal challenges, the latest Executive Orders and evolving contracting and grant requirements.

When you’re responsible for leading growth at an agency, it’s tempting to take what you can get in terms of new business. You feel this expectation to deliver immediately and consistently over time. The need to showcase your value through securing new clients is always top of mind. At least that’s how my mind has been wired after a decade in sales roles in other industries. Prior to joining Crawford and the agency world, I worked for two companies, one of which was a large Fortune 500 company.