Arriving in New York this morning after a 17 hour flight was – as always – an exhilarating experience.  Kennedy Airport was at its most efficient this morning ( whereas last year they were on a go-slow) and more than 300 passengers were through immigration ( finger prints et al) within 40 minutes of landing. Impressive.

 

Autumn is only just starting in New York – they have enjoyed a late summer and New Yorkers are still in summer clothing and all looking quite relaxed.  The government shut down does not appear to be affecting daily New York life – although it is early days.

 

Ad Forum always tries to select hotels which represent the new trends in New York – and the Refinery is no exception.  A new hotel created in New York’s garment district – it has been renovated from the old Colony Arcade Skyscraper.  It is brand new – and surrounded by small interesting shops and diners – the shops often being in the garment and accessories trade – heaven!

 

The position of the hotel – between 5^th and 6^th Avenues on 38^th Street, makes it the ideal spot to start each day of meetings at ad agencies.  The week coming up is probably the fullest agenda that I have seen since I first came on one of these Summits some six years ago.  We are seeing all of the holding company CEO’s – either in person or on video conference – as the big issue under debate this year is the Ominicom/Publicis merger and what the industry thinks about it and the broader implications.

 

The other big theme this week is Shopper Marketing – the last mile.  Very topical and our quest is to discover what agencies are doing about it. 

 

On Sunday – we have a few hours of leisure and time to look at New York ( catch up on some work as well) then we meet in the evening at the hotel with all of the consultants so that Ad Forum can preview the week with us.

 

Day 1 on Monday looks like this:

 

Meeting at hotel with Ad Forum and the 40 other consultants coming in from all over the world from 8.00 am.

 

9.15 – MediaCom – CEO Sash Savic    - breakfast session at MediCom

 

11.15 – 13.15 – Jim Heekin CEO Grey Group Worldwide – lunch

 

13.45 – 14.30  A perspective on Shopper Marketing – Aidan Tracey President of Acosta Mosaic Group

 

14.30 – 15.00 – Panel discussion – Shopper marketing : Agency reviews

 

15.15 – 15.45 – Ken Barnett – CEO, Mars  

 

15.45 – 16.15 – Paul Price, CEO Creative Realities International

 

16.15 – 18.15 – Lindsay Pattison – CEO,  Maxus

 

19.00 – Dinner hosted by Aaron Shapiro, CEO, Huge

 

And we will be finished (literally) by about 22.00. 

 

That’s a 14 hour working day from start to finish!   Our role as consultants is to listen, ask questions and keep ourselves informed about what the agencies are doing to identify and embrace new trends, to give feedback and to bring our news back to home country to share with our clients and agencies there.       

 

Day One is always the first of a stimulating five days of discussion and this will be no different.

 

Watch out for my summary of the day – which I will be sure to do before I fall into bed on Monday night.

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