Silicon Valley/Silicon Alley & Madison Avenue share Strategies for Driving Collaboration Across the Technology and Advertising Industries [REPORT]

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released “Madison Avenue Meets Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley: Building Collaboration Between Creativity and Technology,” a whitepaper that crystallizes insights and advice that emerged during high-level, West and East Coast IAB summits. They brought some of the biggest names in the technology, publishing, agency, venture capital and marketing communities together to discuss and debate how best to bridge the gap between creativity and technology in order to build better, more sustainable consumer advertising experiences. Industry leaders convened during this series of candid conversations under the auspices of the IAB Agency Advisory Board, comprised of 36 senior executives from the nation’s leading creative, digital and media agencies, who invited many of their brand clients to participate.

Ron Conway, Founder of SV Angel, a premiere San Francisco-based angel investment firm, and Michael Lebowitz, the Founder and CEO of Big Spaceship, an award-winning digital agency headquartered in Brooklyn, and Chair of the IAB Agency Advisory Board wrote the paper’s foreword. They marry their perspectives and urge all parties to “champion new ways to drive collaboration across technology and advertising.”

Lessons are offered on:

•     Understanding the consumer shift to spending more time on digital
•     Addressing organizational, cultural, and financial challenges
•     The depth and breadth of potential payoff from collaborative efforts

The paper also identifies nine vital takeaways that can help both advertisers and technology companies foster greater internal and external collaboration. These recommendations range from the need to focus on one’s business mission to rethinking staffing.

In addition to Conway and Lebowitz, thought-leaders providing expert contributions include:

•     Michael Abbott, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers
•     Tom Bedecarré, Co-Founder and Chairman, AKQA
•     Joanne Bradford, former Head of Partnerships, Pinterest
•     Wendy Clark, President, Sparkling Brands and Strategic Marketing, Coca-Cola North America
•     Greg Coleman, President and CEO, BuzzFeed
•     Beth Comstock, President and CEO, GE Business Innovations and Chief Marketing Officer, GE.
•     Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB
•     Quentin George, Co-Founder and Principal, Unbound
•     Sophie Kelly, CEO, The Barbarian Group
•     Nick Law, Global Chief Creative Officer, R/GA
•     David Lawenda, Head of U.S. Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook
•     Mike Lazerow, Chief Strategy Officer, Salesforce
•     Ben Lerer, Managing Partner, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and Co-Founder and CEO, Thrillist Media Group
•     Mike McCue, CEO, Flipboard
•     Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB
•     Bryan Wiener, Chairman, 360i

“IAB is the only organization that can host this conversation, and connect the dots among brands, marketers, publishers, agencies, and technology companies,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “In this new IP-based digital communications world, IAB hopes to educate all sides of the industry, and jumpstart the type of meaningful collaboration that elevates advertising earlier in the development process.”

“Our intention was to incite strong dialogue between industries and coasts, creativity and tech, and Silicon Valley, Silicon Alley and Madison Avenue,” said David Doty, Executive Vice President and CMO, IAB. “Based on the learnings all sides took away from these conversations, we know this is only a beginning. There is so much more to do.”

To download report CLICK HERE.