Ad Age’s Small Agency Conference & Awards is going virtual this year and will kick off on August 3. The three-day event is composed of workshops, panels, firesides, keynotes and an awards show, all dedicated to the needs to independent shops with fewer than 150 employees, giving them actionable advice that they can take back to their shops to build business.
More than 30 speakers will participate in this year's event, which will explore real-world issues faced by this group, taking on subjects like to get paid fairly (and on time); how to draw in new clients; what small shops can do to diversify their ranks and fight racial injustice; the prospects for drawing in new talent; the state of the economy; and what the upcoming election might mean for the ad business. For the full agenda, click here.
In addition, we’ll have case studies of work that sells, along with inspirational speakers including former BBDO exec Greg Hahn, who in a vote of confidence for small shops, is opening a New York office for No Fixed Address; and Jeff Goodby, a Lion of St. Mark and co-founder of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Gerry Graf will also take the stage to talk about why he ended up closing his celebrated shop.
There will also be plenty of best-practice sharing from small agency owners and execs, including Mira Kaddoura, founder and executive creative director, Red & Co., Keith Cartwright, founder of Cartwright; Mark Fitzloff, founder of Opinionated; Chris Witherspoon, president and chief growth officer of DNA; Sandy Greenberg, co-founder of Terri & Sandy, and many more.
The event will begin with intimate workshops conducted by Nathan Young, president of 600&Rising; Sunday Dinner’s Lindsey Slaby on formulating your go-to-market strategy and Dan Jeffries, founder of Jeffries Consulting, who will discuss best practices for working with procurement. We’ll also be joined by clients including Ricky Engelberg, CMO of Vistaprint; Jeff Cha, VP of marketing at Maserati North America and Matt Lumb, brand director at Procter & Gamble. As part of the program, certain agencies will also be given an opportunity to do an Elevator Pitch for a chance to work with P&G, one of the country’s largest advertisers.
The event will be capped off with the highly anticipated Small Agency Awards, which recognizes the hottest shops in the country, with a virtual awards ceremony.
For tickets and to learn more about the Small Agency Conference & Awards, click here.
