As a trade association dependent on networking and events, the Ad Club was hit hard by the pandemic. And even before COVID-19 arrived, the industry itself had been shifting, becoming more fractured amid the rise of social media and other digital marketing channels.
So last spring, when Ad Club cochairs Andrew Graff, chief executive of Allen & Gerritsen, and Barbara Goose, chief marketing officer at Rocket Software, asked Barb Reilly if she would consider taking over as Ad Club president, they certainly couldn’t have blamed her if she turned it down.
Instead, Reilly turned in a game plan the next day. Reilly has been working as a “fractional CMO” — essentially contractual chief marketing officer gigs for multiple clients — since leaving ad giant Arnold in 2017. Soon, she had one more hat to wear: Ad Club president. Reilly took over for longtime president Kathy Kiely in May. Reilly laid out an ambitious vision, one that included drafting business plans for existing and new members, to show how the Ad Club’s services could meet their needs, as well as a tiered membership fee structure to make it easier for smaller firms to join.
Whatever Reilly did, it seems to be paying off. The Ad Club now has 45 members, roughly double the number a year ago. Membership has returned to pre-COVID levels, and more than 500 people attended the annual Hatch Awards ceremony in October. (Arnold, by coincidence, won the “best of show” award for its Progressive Insurance ads.)
Reilly said it’s important to continue working with her marketing clients while also leading the Ad Club. “Right now, the balance is awesome, and I feel very connected and empathic to what’s going on in the industry,” Reilly said.
Graff said he thought of Reilly almost immediately after he learned in April of Kiely’s pending departure. He was impressed with how quickly she responded, with ideas to grow membership and make the group more relevant in the industry. “She brought it back to how it was [as] a convener of talent,” Graff said. “She got people who hadn’t been in years to come. Her passion and brilliance is what’s making it so successful.”
To Reilly, it’s about building on a strong foundation and legacy for this century-old organization, while recognizing that the group needs to represent all aspects of the advertising industry, not just the big creative agencies.
“The Ad Club was known for just the creative agencies but you cannot be that monochromatic anymore,” Reilly said. “It retreated a little bit but the talent is still here and the work is still great. And we need to showcase that.”
