The 4A’s Business Barometer continues its new focus on life changes and consumer confidence in the March 2010 edition. With an increase of more than two points, has the positive change in consumer confidence resulted in positive life changes? Find out more about the 4A’s Business Barometer with data from the BIGresearch® March 2010 Consumer Intentions and Actions® (CIA™) survey, conducted March 2–10, 2010, on the 4A’s Web site.

The mission of 4A’s Research Services has always been to connect members to critical information as quickly as possible. Increasingly, that means proactively making information available online. To that end, we have been refocusing our energies in several ways to enhance value to members, and to put even more answers at your fingertips. New service enhancements will include:

• ProQuest®, an easy-to-use, full-text database of articles from thousands of journals on companies, industries, business management, marketing topics, and regional business news, will join our existing suite of research databases available for direct access by members on the 4A’s Web site. It will exponentially increase the amount of content available at no charge to members.
• Web site content, Version 2.0. Members will find an expanded range of topical information and improved navigation in the retooled research section of the 4A’s Web site. Look for dramatically increased and reorganized content in the coming months, including insights provided by our growing number of research partners and some other surprises in the works.

For more information on the wide array of research services provided to 4A’s members, as well as a peak at the new initiatives to come, please visit the 4A’s Web site.

The 4A’s is pleased to introduce a new agency review community tool called Review Central. Review Central is a Web platform which is geared to foster community discussion on both agency review compliance with industry best practices and new business guidance information.

Review Central is a 4A’s-sponsored site structured to facilitate advertising community commentary and the exchange of timely information on agency searches, client RFP’s and new business pitches, and accommodates real-time, responsible community sharing on agency search/new business activity.

Review Central features include:

• “Home Page,” free-form commentary on contemporary reviews;
• “View Report Cards,” reports on best and worst review practices;
• “Report Card Template,” the input form to use to populate review (report card) information;
• “Hotline,” post requests for information or assistance;
• “Guidance,” links to industry best practice guidance.

Review Central is a monitored site; the 4A’s will review all material prior to allowing comments or evaluations to be publicly posted. Anyone is welcome to submit comments and participate in Review Central information exchanges. Contributors can elect to post anonymously or they can disclose their identity.

Be sure to check out Review Central today and submit a comment or post!

If you attended today’s morning session at Transformation 2010, you leaned some very fascinating facts about a different form of emerging marketplace from two very different speakers — Univision’s Graciela Eleta and Electronic Arts’ Elizabeth Harz.

For example, did you know that

• 40% of the total population growth in the United States is in the Hispanic Community, while whites are only growing at a rate of 3% and blacks 10%?
• The size of US Hispanic population is larger than most countries, with a GDP close to one trillion dollars?
• 40% of gamers are women, and 26% are over 50 years old?
• The Madden NFL video game series has grossed $2 billion for EA to date, and its FIFA series $3 billion?!

We hear a lot about the increasingly global community, and how important it is for the marketing industry to have increased diversity of thoughts, skills, and talents. But don’t let rhetoric be your guide; look at the stats above. Craft campaigns that include Hispanics and gamers and you will automatically have reached two of the largest, quickest growing sets of groups in North America. It’s a classic first-mover opportunity

Besides, your competitors will surely be taking advantage…will you?

While you are enjoying all of the action and insights of Transformation 2010, be sure to stop by The New York Times Media Lab to experience how they are leveraging technology to help you connect with an influential global audience that’s second to none. Interactive demonstrations will help you optimize your reach of our highly engaged audience, who now access New York Times content wherever they are, whenever they want, 24/7.

Book Signing with Andrew Ross Sorkin
Tuesday, March 2 – 4:45 to 6pm
Visit The New York Times Media Lab for cocktails and meet Andrew Ross Sorkin, chief mergers and acquisitions reporter and columnist for The New York Times. He will be signing complimentary copies of his book, “Too Big to Fail.”

Hey, have you seen the cool screens located on the ballroom floor at the Hilton San Francisco during Transformation 2010?  Did you know that you can post your own pictures, comments, and more to those screens and share your pearls of wisdom with the whole crowd?  Here’s how, thanks to our friends at Aerva:

Learn more about what Avera offers here.  Now start commenting (but keep it clean, folks)!

Whether you work in the advertising/marketing community, the association world, or anywhere in between, chances are you have been to quite a number of conferences over the years.

These conferences are all the same on the surface, to a certain extent. They provide an opportunity to meet and share information/stories with colleagues the world over, to learn from the latest and greatest speakers, and to even get a few choice meals on the company dime.

The Magic Ingredients That Transform Into...Swag!

But beyond the perks, a conference doesn’t happen on its own. It takes a dedicated array of talented and tireless staff to pull all of the pieces together: from senior executives schmoozing the key players, putting together the grand vision, and recruiting the top stars, to middle managers coordinating the communications, Power Point/Keynote presentations, Web and blog postings, and video interviews, to trusted vendors running a seamless online and in-person registration and check-in process to absolutely tireless stage and conference staff working all hours of the night rehearsing every Voice of God intro and negotiating even the smallest detail with hotel personnel. We are a team, all here for the express purpose of making a show the very best it can be!

900 Bags At the Ready at the Registration Desk

After all, someone has to fly out two days early to stuff 900 bags with all of the awesome swag that winds up in our suitcases on the way home! Like the empowered consumer that now stands at the forefront of content and message creation, it’s the person you never anticipate behind the scenes that is making the magic happen.

With nearly 1000 attendees lined up, Transformation 2010 is looking like it will shape up to be a phenomenal success. So, if you are here at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco and see someone walking down the hall wearing a red “staff” badge, stop and say hello or perhaps even offer a word of thanks. We are here for you anytime, and a little good will can go a very, very long way!

See you tomorrow at General Session!

Whether you are with us in San Francisco for the 4A’s Event of the Year or living vicariously through the attendees on the Information Superhighway, don’t miss a single moment of the action. Bookmark and visit the following sites to ensure you always have the latest news, insights, and event happenings right on your laptop or mobile screen:

• Official Transformation Community Web site
• 4A’s Events Blog
• 4A’s Twitter Feed
• Twitter List for Conference Speakers, courtesy of The Huffington Post
• Twitter List for Conference Attendees
• Official Conference Hashtag: #transformation2010

On February 25, 2010, the 4A’s Board of Directors adopted a new position paper, Software and Software Tools: Ownership and Use Contracting Considerations When Creating Digital, Online and Mobile Content.

The paper addresses the ownership of, and contracting considerations related to, software and software tools, and provides background on how technology has changed the marketing services industry and notes that the ownership, intellectual property and indemnification provisions of many agreements between agencies and advertisers have not been adapted to accommodate the change in the services that agencies provide.

The paper recommends that, at a minimum, the ownership provisions in agency services agreements need to carve out software-related materials. In addition, the 4A’s recommends that agency agreements with clients preserve agency ownership and agency right to use agency developed software and tools.

Visit the 4A’s Web site to read the complete position paper.