Mr. Liodice, members of the ANA; Ms. Hill, Mr. Weill, members of the 4A's, Officers of our media and technology partners, and everyone that gives their labor to the promotion of brands and the creation and distribution of media, it is time take pause and reflect on that which binds us together.
It is not the price we pay for media, it is not a like or a click, it is the fulfillment of the needs and wants of the American people for goods, services and content that provide functional and emotional benefits.
What makes us exceptional -- what makes us marketers -- is our allegiance to the promotion of consumption.
We hold this truth to be self-evident. That all brands are unequal, that they enjoy few rights but common aims; among these are market share, customer loyalty and the pursuit of profitability.
Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of these words with reality, the truths are self-evident but not self-executing without the meaningful intervention of brand zealots that truly believe that the tyranny of the supply and distribution chains can be conquered by product and communication innovation for the consumer, with the consumer and by the consumer.
For 60 long years since the first television commercial, for 13 years since the first Google search, for 6 years since the first Tweet we have made ourselves anew and vowed to change.
Together we determined that a modern communications strategy required new behaviors, new creative assets new metrics and new ways to train our workers.
Together we discovered that a free market thrives on the oxygen of venture capital, on the celebration of occasional outstanding success standing astride the failed detritus of the ill-conceived.
Together, we resolved that if you don't look after yourself no one will do it for you.
Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, of regulators that determine what we can say, to whom and where we can say it. Our collective defense of freedom of speech and freedom of data usage are constant in our character.
Preserving our individual freedom ultimately requires collective action; no muskets and militias will save us rather an intelligent lobby that demands a determination to identify and eliminate harm to the consumer as an alternative to the dead hand of regulation.
We have all understood that when times change so must we; that fidelity to what we pay for must be supplemented by a determination to own assets that will create an earned dividend.
This generation of marketers, agencies and programmers has been tested by crises of ad avoidance, falling audiences and escalating CPMs. A social and mobile revolution is upon us, the possibilities from creation, distribution, commenting and sharing are limitless.
For, if we, the industry, can seize on the idea that everything we create has the potential to be kept, used and shared we will grasp the moment.
For we, the industry, believe that brands, programs and communication will be social by design.
For we, the industry, no longer believe that television is the only thing but that it remains a big thing.
For we, the industry, do not believe that the replacement of a broadcast oligopoly with a digital oligopoly is in the best interests of our brands or of our consumers.
For we, the industry, believe that our old mechanisms of measurements require a radical overhaul; common currencies built from common interest not many currencies that satisfy individuals at the expense of collective progress.
For we, the industry, believes that every brand requires a base level of awareness to establish social relevance and that assuming that discovery and social sharing is enough is, in fact, not enough.
For we, the industry, believe that ad tech is a central pillar of the future prosperity of brands but that establishing the marginal utility and real value of each technology needs to be established clearly.
For we, the industry remain divided about the separation of messaging from context and can no longer adequately define premium.
Our ability to change is the most self-evident of truths; it guided our forebears from newspapers, to radio, to television and to the foothills of the internet.
It is our generation's responsibility to continue what these pioneers began; dollars that became dimes, must become dollars again. We must look at the long and short term potential of marketing together; we must look together at the mass, the addressable, the searchable, discoverable and shareable. We must embrace data as a liberating force for our imaginations.
My fellow marketing professionals, don't do evil; we must look beyond party or faction, beyond advertiser, agency and vendor and remember our solemn and shared responsibility to support this great nation by creating entertainment that cheers and informs, by creating demand for goods and services, and ultimately creating the employment that enables the pursuit of happiness for all.