Advertising Week: The Olympic Games of Networking (Outside the Cube blog)

Last week was the fifth annual Advertising Week in New York. From Monday, September 22, through Friday, September 26, the city was packed to the brim with advertising execs and creative types alike, attending content rich seminars by day and schmoozing to some great entertainment by night.

But you didn’t have to be an agency "big-wig" (or even involved in the industry) to attend and make the most of this past week. As long as you had a MetroCard and an interest in advertising, you could easily have been rubbing elbows with ad directors and executives from some of the biggest names and top publications in the industry.

Not only was it a great opportunity to meet and mingle, but there was also a lot to take away. No matter what sector of the business you’re in, advertising most likely plays a crucial role in your company’s everyday and, in certain cases, overall existence.

I had a general idea about advertising with regard to the some of the lingo and its importance to the media industry as a whole. But attending these events offered a huge opportunity to run into people I would never have had the chance to speak to without a standing appointment. And to hear from them first-hand about their experiences in a relaxed setting was interesting, but more importantly, it was incredibly informative.

In the midst of these sponsored events with food and drink galore, I was able to take something away – and not just something, but a good bit of useful information.
Advertising as a whole is a meld of creative and business; it is the meeting ground for visual ideas and the creative word to blend together, affecting business end-users in every industry across the globe.

While Ad Week may have ended last Friday, we here at ABM end with a bang on October 1, when we celebrate Creative Excellence in Business Advertising during our 13th Annual CEBA Awards ceremony.

This is truly where the best of the best in b-to-b advertising are showcased, and I’m anxious to see how the top players made out.

Posted by Wally Koval