Adweek reported the 4As appointed Justin Thomas-Copeland as its next CEO.
Great, bring
in a Black man when DEIBA+ heat shields are experiencing accelerated
abandonment and anti-woke platforms are attracting energized enthusiasm. Then
again, it’s not like the trade organization has ever made an impact on the
underrepresentation of non-Whites and systemic racism in Adland.
Hell, did the
4As have to extend the executive search to Europe to find a candidate of
color…?!
Justin
Thomas-Copeland Takes the Reins as CEO of the 4As
He succeeds
Marla Kaplowitz, who steps down at the end of the month.
By Alison
Weissbrot
The American
Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) has selected its next CEO.
Agency veteran
Justin Thomas-Copeland will take over leadership of the organization from Marla
Kaplowitz, who has led the agency trade group for eight years. She announced
her plans to leave the organization in May 2025 last July.
Thomas-Copeland
takes over after an extensive search run by the 4As board, led by Abbey
Klaassen, chair of the board of directors and CEO of Dentsu Creative. The
search was supported by executive recruiting firm Grace Blue.
He is currently
based in Europe and will relocate to New York for the new role.
“We had such
tremendous interest in this role from such a diverse mix of leaders from across
the industry,” Klaassen told ADWEEK. “There’s so much passion for making sure
the agency industry continues to stay strong, relevant, and thrive.”
Ultimately, she
said, the board selected Thomas-Copeland because of his background in digital
and creative, his strength as a people leader, and his clear vision for the 4As
in a time of major transformation in the agency business.
“The vision for
me is really simple: it’s for the 4As to be the leading partner in agencies and
how they reimagine client value,” Thomas-Copeland said. “We’ve got to support
and advocate for our agencies to thrive, but it has to land with clients for it
to really matter.”
Proving
value to clients
Thomas-Copeland
is no stranger to the agency world. With more than two decades of experience
under his belt, he’s run Wunderman, RAPP, OMPG Health, and DDB North America as
CEO.
While he plans
to continue much of the work the 4As is currently doing, he sees an opportunity
to reorient the member experience around helping agencies prove their value and
impact on clients. This requires the organization to adopt a “practitioner’s mindset,”
he said, so that “the value to the member is clear of being part of the 4As
community, and the client sees the benefit of that as much as possible.”
“How can we
help our members continue to not just deliver, but also articulate and
communicate their value?” Klaassen added. “I think that is a really nice place
for the 4As to be focused on.”
Under
Thomas-Copeland, the 4As will continue to provide thought leadership and
guidance in the areas most impacting its member agencies, from how to think
through new service models to embracing a transforming industry and redefining
what great creative work and talent looks like in the age of AI.
“The first
thing is to listen and understand what the issues are, and we’ll do that with
our members. We’ll also look at the ANA and partners who can give us a client
perspective,” he said. “Whatever we do, we want to offer it [in] the mindset of
scalable services. How are all of these things scalable to help the broader
base?”
The 4As will
also continue its focus on talent, though the organization shared that it is
making changes to its Multicultural Advertising Internship (MAIP) and Vanguard
programs. Initially created to support entry and mid-level diverse talent,
respectively, these programs will now also be open to all individuals and will
“no longer be just for people of color,” according to a 4A’s spokesperson.
Thomas-Copeland
said that despite the attacks on DEI from the Trump administration, programs
that look to attract diverse talent and build inclusive workplaces “has to
remain the kitemark of the 4As and what we do in the area of talent.”
“I see no
change in that,” he said.
Kaplowitz’s
legacy
Kaplowitz
joined the 4As as CEO in 2017 with the intention of staying in the role for no
more than five years. Eight years later, she’s leaving at the end of May,
staying on to help Thomas-Copeland through the transition.
Under her leadership,
the 4As repaired the relationship with the Association of National Advertisers
(ANA), which had grown tense in the wake of growing transparency issues between
agencies and clients. Through that work, the organizations published thought
leadership that aimed to evolve the agency-client relationship, such as a
series of studies evaluating the cost involved for both parties in new business
pitches.
During
Kaplowitz’s tenure, the 4As also established the Advertiser Protection Bureau,
which pulled together competitive members to develop an industry-approved brand
safety framework.
She also led a
push to evolve the 4As internally into a more modern organization with new
back-end technology systems, as well as a revamped website.
And she led the
organization through Covid-19, a time when many agencies “were really fighting
for their life,” Klaassen said.
“She’s done a lot of hard yards on things that
maybe people don’t necessarily see, but will feel intuitively,” she said.
